


when the sparks were cold

by serise



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Coming of Age, F/M, Fluff, Follows Plot, Humor, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24987922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serise/pseuds/serise
Summary: You are born and raised in the capital city of the Northern Water Tribe, to an upper class family that allows a little bending of the rules. Always a rebellious and fierce spirit, you've had a hard time growing up with the strict ideals your tribe has for girls.Luckily, things change for the better with the arrival of a legendary child monk and two of his friends. You discover you may have a way out of the life that strangles you and a chance to help change the world.And along the way, you meet a certain exiled prince who makes your heart race, and helps you understand what it means to play with fire.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar) & Reader, Zuko (Avatar)/Reader
Comments: 59
Kudos: 135





	1. two brothers, two sisters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello~~  
> today im beginning a new fic, following the story of a northern water tribe girl as she grows up and eventually joins the gaang on their travels around the world. it starts with a lot of worldbuilding surrounding the water tribe and reader's childhood, as although this is a zuko/reader fic, i enjoy having a thorough backstory and motivations for my main characters! if that bothers you, feel free to skip ahead a couple of chapters :)
> 
> im so happy atla is having a resurgence and i want to contribute some material to the fandom so this is it! please enjoy ^^

“Y/N! Don’t let go of Yuna’s hand, okay?”

You nod, gripping your sister’s hand with a fierce strength to make sure there’s no way it slips out of your grasp.

Hakki thrusts his hands forward, always with that slight lack of grace that Y/N knows he gets scolded on. But the ice forms out of the ocean water anyway, forming a path between one chunk of ice and the next. 

Kuten, more swift and careful, forms some barriers on the edge of the ice bridge, testing it out first before calling out to his siblings that it’s safe to walk on. Kuten goes first, then his twin, and then the two younger sisters, you still clutching the youngest’s hand tightly. 

“How long do we have to stay out here?” Yuna whines, tugging on your hand.  
“It’s an adventure, Yuna!” Hakki answers for you, grinning. “We’re almost there. It’s gonna be so cool, you’ll see!”

You continue through the ice, two brothers creating pathways for two sisters, on your way to something. You know what it is, and you don't care much about it. But Hakki and Kuten are the ones who decide what the four of you are going to do if your parents are busy with the Chief and elders the whole day. And today, they decided to explore.

“There it is!”

You squint, but you don't really need to. The ship comes into view after just a few more steps, the plane of ice and snow thicker and more stable out here. You don’t feel so nervous anymore, in fact, you can understand why your brothers ooh and ahh at the sight, running up as close to it as they can.

“Hey, be careful,” you call, half-heartedly. “We’re not even supposed to be doing this.”

“We snuck all the way out here and you want us to just look at it from twenty feet away?” Hakki exclaims. “No way!”

“Y/N has a point,” says Kuten, hands on his hips as you approach, keeping your sister close to your body. “If something happens, we’re gonna be in so much trouble. So, so much trouble.”  
“I wanna go home,” Yuna sighs. “It’s too cold out here.”  
“It’s cold at home too!” Hakki says. “We live in the North Pole.”  
“Yeah, but it’s colder here.”  
“Whatever!”

“Just don’t mess with the ship,” you interrupt. “It’s been here for eighty-five years. The thing could fall apart with one step for all we know.”

You keep yourself and Yuna a safe distance away as your brothers seem to heed your advice, at least to a degree. Hakki may be impulsive and adventurous, but Kuten isn’t. He’ll keep him in line. 

“Woah, there’s a door!” Hakki shouts after a few minutes.  
“Leave it alone!” you call to him, frowning.

They’re on the other side of the ship now, where you can’t see them and make sure they don’t do something stupid. You sigh to yourself, but your sister notices.

“Y/N,” Yuna says, tugging on your hand again. “Are Hakki and Kuten gonna get in trouble?”  
“We’re all gonna get in trouble if they open that door,” you grumble in response. “Come on.”

You pull your sister along behind you as you tread carefully around the ship, taking the same path that your brothers did not long ago. You are painfully aware of the looming red symbol painted on the side of the hull, much higher in the air than it was ever intended to be by its creators.

The ice spikes around the Fire Nation battleship like a crystal cage, holding it up as a sign, a simple reminder to your enemy of what happens to their fancy technology when they attack your home. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds of them around the outside border of the North Pole. This is just the closest one- the closest one ever got to the wall.

“Hakki? Kuten?” you call out as you come around to the other side of the ship, but your brothers are nowhere to be seen.  
“Where’d they go?” Yuna asks, voicing your exact thoughts.  
“I don’t know,” you mumble, panic beginning to seep into your chest. They must have gone inside the ship. The idiots! You thought Kuten was smart enough not to do something so risky.

“Do you see a door anywhere?” you ask your younger sister. The small girl looks around with wide blue eyes, and shakes her head.  
“Nope,” she says, popping the p.

You sigh, more annoyed this time. Where in the spirits’ names had they gone?

“Y/N!” 

Shocked, your head whips upwards, your eyes widening in horror when you spot both of your brothers standing atop the highest point of the ship.

“Look where we made it!” Hakki waves, grinning brightly.  
“Get down from there right now!” you shout, thrusting a fist downward. The water behind you swashes around, splattering onto the ice. “Seriously! Kuten, make him come down!”  
“You should come up!” Kuten answers happily. “This place is a treasure trove of history, Y/N. It’s fascinating!”

You resist the urge to snap back at him, and just let out a long breath, trying to feel calm like the healing teachers always tell you to.

“Fine. You two can stay up there, but Yuna and I are going home. And we’re gonna tell Mom and Dad what you’re doing.”

“What?” Hakki exclaims, sounding appalled. “Y/N, you can’t! What if we get banned from waterbending lessons?”  
“I hope you do!” you yell back in a moment of frustration. You look down at your sister. “Let’s go, Yuna. They’re being dumb.”  
“Okay,” Yuna shrugs. “But how are we going to go back if Hakki can’t make the bridges for us?”  
You crack a smile. “Don’t worry about that.”

You begin to lead the younger girl back around to the front side of the ship, the one that still faces the wall. 

“Are you really gonna tell Mommy and Daddy about the boat?” Yuna asks as the two of you walk back the way you came, going slower than on the way there so that you can just find the paths Hakki made earlier. 

You shake your head. “Nah. I just wanted to put some pressure on them to get away from that thing quickly.”

You look back at the ship, that red symbol menacing even in its faded color, even halfway covered by the sharp ice. You shudder, remembering your most recent lesson about the early war at school. 

“Does the Fire Nation still exist?” Yuna asks, hopping over a chunk of ice and landing hard on her feet. The ice splinters a little, and you tug her ahead quickly to the next chunk of thick floating ice.  
“Of course it does.”  
“Then why is that boat so old?”  
“Because they left us alone when they couldn’t beat us. And that was a long time ago.”  
“Oh,” Yuna stops. “Are Hakki and Kuten really not coming?”

You sigh, turning your sister to face you as you let go of her hand to gesture. “Yuna, I told you. We’re going back first because they want to act like idiots. Both of them are waterbenders and they’re older than us so it’s not a big deal for them to be out here alone. I don’t even know why they dragged us along in the first place!”

Yuna just shrugs, her big eyes innocent. 

“Y/N! Help!”

A sudden, shrill scream makes you whip around, all that panic and nervousness from before striking you at once, washing over you heart like a massive, crashing wave. 

“Help!” 

It’s Kuten’s voice. 

“Yuna, stay here, and don’t move!” you grab her sister’s wrist tightly, ordering her with a stern look. You know her voice is wavering, though.  
“Why? What’s happening?” Yuna says, sounding scared. “Y/N, don’t go!”

“Stay there!” you shout over your shoulder as you bounds back the way you came, your feet easily finding the most stable places to run over. 

The ship. It’s sinking.

“Hakki?” you yell, running around it helplessly. “Kuten? Where are you? Guys!”

“Y/N!” Kuten shouts again, and it sounds like it’s coming from inside the ship. “Help!”

“Where are you?” you shout again, running right up to the hull and running your hands along the edge as you follow it around to the other side, searching for that door they were talking about earlier.

“Inside! Hakki’s hurt!”

You try hard not to start panicking completely, instead steeling yourself and standing straight. What was it that Kuten taught you last week? Feet planted, open your hands, pull back and push forward, pull back and push up–!

The water spins around you, lifting you up, albeit shakily, until you can use it to push yourself over the edge of the ship and onto the deck. It falls down onto the ice, pooling there as though it’s waiting for you to need it again.

You look around wildly, feeling completely out of your element in the cold grey metal surface of this foreign vessel. “Kuten?”

“Down here!”

You follow the sound of his voice down some stairs, and as he shouts out again, down to the end of a hall where a door has been swung open. You step through the doorway and gasp.

Hakki’s forehead is cut open in a blunt, bloody line over his left eyebrow. He’s groaning, lying in Kuten’s arms with unfocused eyes.

“What happened?” you exclaim, rushing forward, then stop with another gasp as you take a hasty step away from a hole in the ground.  
“That,” Kuten says, then gestures. “I can’t heal him. Can you try?”  
“Sure,” you say, drawing water from the flask on his hip that Kuten pops open. You kneel by your brothers, the water glowing around your hand as you lay it on Hakki’s forehead. The boy whimpers. “What happened, exactly?”

Kuten sighs. “It was a booby trap. He rushed it here and the floor fell out. I grabbed him before he could fall all the way in, but he still hit his head.”

“This is why I said to come down,” you grumble in irritation.  
“Where’s Yuna?” Kuten asks, suddenly looking around as if in realization.  
You gently move the water around, seeing Hakki’s forehead wound begin to close up slightly. “I told her to wait where we were. In case something really bad was happening here.”  
“You left her alone?” Kuten exclaims.  
You turn on him with wide eyes. “Was I supposed to drag an eight year old onto a Fire Nation battleship?”

Kuten sighs, wiping a hand over his face. “You’re right. We shouldn’t have even come here. This was such a mistake.”  
“You’re telling me,” Hakki mutters, groaning. “My head hurts.”  
“Gee, I wonder why?” you flick him in the shoulder with your other hand. “Are you good enough to walk?”  
“Yeah,” her brother pushes himself up to sit by himself. “That floor got me good.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Kuten says, standing. “We can’t leave Yuna alone for too long.”  
“I agree,” you stand, flicking the water out of the window as it’s been bloodied. “Hakki, you’ll probably have a headache, but just deal with it.”  
“Thanks, you’re so kind,” he responds sarcastically.

The three of you make your way back down the hallway, and up the stairs, and out onto the deck. 

Creak.

“What was that?” you ask, pivoting every which way with wide eyes.  
“What was what?” Hakki asks, pressing his hand to his forehead.  
“I heard it too,” Kuten frowns. “We need to get off this ship, right now.”

Snap.

“It’s the ice!” you exclaim, leaning over the edge. “It’s cracking off! This thing is gonna sink!”

“We need to get off this ship, now!” Kuten repeats, more urgently. “Hakki, make the slide, make the slide!”

Hakki draws his hands up, but barely any water follows, and it drops weakly back down after just a few seconds. 

Splash!

“The ice! It’s falling into the water!” Y/N points. “Kuten, you do it!”  
“I’ve never done it before!”  
“Just do it, idiot!”

He tries, lifting his hands up in the same way Hakki had, pulling them back with one knee raised. The water follows, but when Kuten freezes it, it freezes jagged. There’s no way you’ll be able to slide down that.

You groan and push your brothers out of the way. “Fine! I’ll do it, since you two are so useless!”

In one swift, strong motion, you draw your hands up to your chest, fingers neatly pulling to bring the water up. Both hands thrust forward with just the right amount of power, forcing the water into a smooth, frozen slide down to the ice below. 

“Let’s go!” you shout, jumping on it first without any inhibitions. The boys follow after you, probably motivated by the creaking, groaning noises coming from the old ship as the ice holding it up begins breaking. 

As soon as Kuten hits the ice, the ship crashes down almost all the way down, sending a wave of water crashing towards the three of them. You throw your hands into the air, forming a curved wall of ice just large enough that the water continues in its path over your heads, pouring back into the ocean. 

“Ah!” Hakki shouts in fear as the ice starts cracking under their feet.  
“We gotta go!” Kuten grabs his hand and starts running. “Y/N! Where’s Yuna?”  
“Follow me, idiot!” 

You head the other way, your hands in front of you the whole time, reinforcing the ice underneath the three of you with another layer as you run. You look over your shoulder periodically, checking that your brothers are still there. 

The ship crashes down into the water completely, sending another massive wave directly towards you. The ice splinters again, and this time, you hear another panicked shout.

“Y/N!” 

“Yuna!” you shout back, eyes wide with fear.

Kuten throws up a similar wall of ice to the one you made before, protecting you from the water pouring fiercely towards you three. 

Another scream, this time high pitched and clearly terrified.

“Yuna!” you scream back, ditching the protective barrier your brother made and instead running towards the spot you remember leaving your little sister in. A horrified gasp rips from your throat when you see nothing but broken ice and water where Yuna should have been standing. “Yuna!”

“Y/N! Don’t jump in the water!”

“Shut up!” you cry at Kuten, pulling off your heavy coat and shoes as fast as possible. Without a second’s hesitation, you dive into the freezing ocean, forcing your eyes open to try and search for Yuna underwater. 

It only takes a few seconds to spot her, but your sister is sinking fast, her thick furs weighing her small body down. You push yourself downwards, using your feet to propel the water behind her. You feel tears in your eyes even as they blend with the ocean as you loop your arms around Yuna’s, adjusting her to hold with one hand as you use the other to pull the water around you in a twist like before, pushing you to the surface with speed.

You break the surface of the water soon after, gasping desperately for air. 

“Y/N! Yuna!”

You barely realize what’s happening as Kuten drags you onto some ice and you pass your sister off to Hakki, who starts pulling off her wet clothes. 

“Y/N! You’re freezing! Are you crazy?” Kuten physically shakes you.  
“We need to get back-” you pause to cough out water, pushing your wet hair back from your face. “We need to get back to the city. Yuna needs a healer.”

“She’s going pale,” Hakki’s voice shakes. “What are we gonna do?”

You push yourself up off the ice, grabbing your dry coat and hurriedly wrapping it around your younger sister. You do your best to pull the water off of her feet and shove them back into her shoes.

“We need to go now! Kuten, carry Yuna. Hakki, follow me and make sure the path doesn’t crack.”

You ignore your throbbing lungs, and how horribly cold you feel. You ignore your shaking hands and the sound of both of your brothers crying. You ignore the sound of the Fire Nation ship continuing to sink under the water. You just push your hands out in front of you and make the best path you can, keeping that white wall in sight the whole time.


	2. growing up

**age 10**

“Y/N?”

It’s the princess’s voice. And yet, why can’t you bother to even look at her?  
All you look at is that vast, empty ocean. That cruel, frozen ocean. 

“Y/N, you should come inside. It’s too cold at night to stay outside for so long.”

“Yue,” you say, your hands gripping the wall of ice. “If I had just made them stay home that day. If I just made them do something else- anything else! If I had just–”  
“Don’t!” the princess exclaims, her hand landing on your shoulder. “Y/N, don’t do this to yourself. You aren’t to blame. Nobody is. Who could have expected that this would happen?”

“Me,” you say weakly, tears welling up in your eyes. “I knew something bad would happen. I just didn’t fight hard enough to stop it.”  
“You’re the one who tried to save her,” Yue insists, standing beside you. “You had to lie so you wouldn’t get in trouble for waterbending, but I know it was you. You did everything you could.”  
“And it wasn’t enough!” you cry, your voice breaking. You slam your hands against the wall. “My sister is gone! And I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”

You fall to your knees, heaving out broken sobs as the princess sits down beside you, holding you tightly in her arms. 

“It’ll get better,” Yue says sadly, combing her fingers through your loose hair. “Someday.”

-

**age 11**

You grit your teeth at the table, clenching your fists in your lap as you are forced to listen to Chief Arnook addressing your brothers.

“You two are some of the bravest boys in the whole north. Nokun, you must be so proud of your sons.”

Your father smiles at his best friend, the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe. You look over at Yue, your best friend. The girl tries to convey her sorry feeling through her eyes, and you get exactly what she’s saying.

“I’m beyond proud of them,” your dad pats Kuten on the back, and grins down at Hakki who is seated too far away to touch. He looks at you, then, a knowing smile painting his lips. “And of my daughter.”

Your parents both know, of course, about your brothers teaching you waterbending. It started out completely innocent- all three of them were too young to understand laws, so when you started swirling water around in the air absentmindedly while on a boat ride, your brothers were immediately excited to show you all the things they learned in waterbending lessons.

You were only six, then.

From then on, every so often when the three of you could sneak out of the city into the vast snowscapes, Hakki and Kuten would teach you whatever they learned from Master Pakku. Even when they realized girls were not allowed by any means to practice waterbending outside of healing, you kept sneaking out. Unfortunately, Yuna snitched as soon as she was old enough to relay information she learned from her siblings to her parents.

You look down at the table, watching the soup in your bowl waver as you clenches and unclenches your fist. It’s been a year since Yuna passed away, so why are you still always thinking about her? Why do you still feel so bitter?

“Kalla, how is Y/N coming along with her healing lessons?” the Chief asks as everyone continues to eat. You look at your mom, who pats you on the head. “I so wish our Yue could have had such a power. But you know, when both of the parents don’t have the gift of bending…”

“The Princess is sure to make her own way in life regardless of being a waterbender,” your mom speaks calmly and kindly, as she always does. And yet, ever since Yuna died, her voice has that slight tremble. “Y/N is doing well. She doesn’t have much of a gentle touch, though. If only she could train with her brothers.”

You raise your eyebrows in surprise. Neither of your parents and neither of your brothers have ever dared to suggest letting you train as a real waterbender with the boys in front of the Chief or Master Pakku. 

Chief Arnook simply laughs. “Well, rules are rules. I’m sure she’ll make a fine healer in the future.”

And that is that. 

It bothers you. Spirits, it bothers you so much. Enough that your soup wavers all the way until there is none of it left. Enough that on the ride through the canals back home from the palace, you have to keep your jaw tight and sit on your hands so that you don't accidentally lash out with your power.

It’s only when your family of five steps back into your home that things go wrong.

“Y/N, what’s up with that look on your face? You look like you just ate Granny’s pickled sea prunes.” Hakki comments offhandedly as he pulls off his coat, flicking your braid. 

You smack his hand away. “Don’t talk to me.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” your father steps in right away, frowning. “Y/N, what’s wrong? You seemed fine earlier.”  
“Well, I wasn't,” you answer snottily.   
Your dad softens, giving you a sympathetic look. “If it’s about the waterbending–”

“Of course it is!” you shout, your eyes wild as you look at each of your brothers. “You two wanna know why Arnook thinks you’re brave? It’s because he thinks that you two are the ones who saved me from the sinking Fire Nation ship! He thinks one of you jumped in to save Yuna and that I must have fallen in too! He thinks you did all the work, when really, you two dragged me and her out there and you’re the ones that got stuck and begged me to save you!”

“Y/N!” your mom exclaims, trying to reach out to calm you, but you push her off, too, tears welling up in your eyes.

“You two get all the credit for all the work that I did, and you’re the reason that Yuna is dead! And if I wasn’t so much better at bending than both of you, we’d all be dead!”

“ _Y/N!_ ” your dad snaps coldly, grabbing your arm. “That is _enough_. Do not blame your brothers for your sister’s passing.”  
You rip your arm away and stalk towards your room. “I will blame them! _It’s their fault!_ ”

You slam the door to your room, hearing the ice crack a little. And it hurts you, because you know that it wasn’t your physical strength that slammed that door so hard. You’re strong in another way.

You slump onto your bed, folding your hands over your stomach. Your mom is going to kill you for getting on it with your boots on, especially if the furs get wet. But you can’t really bring herself to care.

Someone knocks on the door.

“Go away,” you say, quieter than you intended. But you must have used up all your yelling energy, because your voice won’t come out any louder than that now. 

“Please let me come in, Y/N,” Kuten’s voice rings through the door.

You feel a strike of shame through your heart. What you said was plain mean- it’s not like Yuna was just your sister. She was your brothers’ sister too. 

“Fine,” you say, even quieter.

Kuten seems to hear you, though, because he opens the door and shuts it behind him soon after. You shut your eyes and roll over onto your side so that you don't have to look at your brother. You hear him sit down on the pelt on the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Kuten says, and you feel that pang in your chest again.  
“Don’t say sorry,” you interrupt him weakly before he can continue.  
“I never have before,” he responds, and you can hear that his voice is shaky. “And I should have. Hakki, too. You know, both of us just wanted to pretend like it never happened. And I know that’s horrible, it’s sick and it’s evil… our little sister is gone. But you were right. It was our fault, even if Mom and Dad try to convince us it wasn’t. It was, and I feel so guilty every night that I can’t sleep until the sun is about to rise.”

You sniffle, feeling terrible about what you said now. You weren't even sure if you believed it, just lashing out in anger at the entire situation rather than directly at your brothers for the past.

“I always think about how I’m supposed to be the smart twin, the one who knows when to stop. But I didn’t think hard enough and I wasn’t good enough at waterbending and I wasn’t brave enough. I’m sorry.” Kuten’s voice cracks, and you hear the pull of tears in his speech. “I’m so sorry.”

You want to get up and comfort him, but you guess that there must be a part of you that really does believe your brothers are to blame. Because you just can’t roll over and get off of the bed.

You nearly say it. What you were thinking.  
 _Sorry isn’t going to bring Yuna back._

But you know that would be too cruel. So you keep your mouth shut until Kuten speaks again.

“Hakki and I want to keep teaching you. Even if you can never learn straight from Master Pakku, you’ll learn from him through us. You saved us and we have to pay you back for everything you did for the rest of our lives.”

“I’m going to sleep now,” is all that you say. You reach over and blow out the lamp by your bed without another word, the only light coming into the room from the moon through the window.

“Goodnight, Y/N.” Kuten whispers, and leaves.

You think hard that night, mostly about what-ifs. What if you hadn’t left Yuna alone, what if Hakki hadn’t gotten hurt, what if Kuten made them climb down, what if Mom stopped all four of them from going, what if the wall was impossible to sneak out of, what if there was never a ship in the first place–!

You grit your teeth.  
That insignia of fire haunts you.   
What if there was never a ship in the first place?

It’s a good way to take the blame away from your brothers.  
So you do.

-

**age 13**

Yue smiles bashfully beside you as the boys on the practice field show off move after move to the two of them, grinning proudly after each one. 

“They’re all getting quite good, don’t you think?” Yue asks, standing straight, her hands folded politely at her waist.  
You lean on the parapet, quirking an unimpressed brow. “Not really. Navro’s technique is poor, in particular. And Roan looks like he’s about to pee himself whenever Master Pakku moves his hands.”

Yue laughs behind her hand, her eyes twinkling. “I can’t comment on Navro, but I will say that Roan does look a little frightened by his spars with Master Pakku.”

“And my brothers continue to think they’re the best,” you sigh, turning so that you aren't facing the field. You lean back on the parapet, elbows supporting the rest of your body. “I hate the stupid rules about girls and waterbending. Tell me you’ll change them when you eventually have more power.”

“I won’t be able to, Y/N,” Yue says with a forlorn look. “My husband will become the Chieftain, not me.”   
You groan. “I hate it. It’s so ridiculous. What, can our weak feminine minds not handle the stress of being powerful?”

“Well, I already know that isn’t the case,” Yue places a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Because you are powerful.”

You smile. “Thanks. I would be even more powerful if I didn’t have to learn through spying on these hopeless fools.”

Yue frowns at this. “Your brothers aren’t teaching you anymore?”  
You shake your head, turning back around. Now, Hakki is dueling Navro, and absolutely decimating him. “They’re apparently too busy, training in waterbending and in being warriors. You know that guy Hahn keeps bugging Hakki about joining his little band of fighters. Says the highborn should stick together, or something stupid like that.”  
“Oh, I didn’t know that actually,” Yue hums. “Well, it’s a shame. I wish you could practice.”

“I’ll just have to sneak out and practice alone one of these nights,” you stretch. Navro gets thrown flat onto his back by your brother, who throws a happy fist into the air before Master Pakku slaps the back of his head. Hakki then bows to Navro. 

“We ought to get back to the palace,” Yue says, stepping away from the side of the bridge. “My father will want us there. There’s going to be a meeting about a possible reconnection with the Southern Tribe soon.”

“Really?” you push off the parapet, folding your hands into her sleeves as you fall into step with Yue. “And how exactly are they planning to do that?”  
Yue smiles. “I guess we’ll find out.”

-

**age 14**

Kuten sputters, spitting water out of his mouth as he attempts to stand from where you knocked him down onto the snow. It only takes a quick flick of both of your wrists for a thick cage of ice to surround him, leaving only his head exposed.

“Okay, I tap out!” he says, shaking his head around wildly. His hair has escaped the clean tails it was tied in before, now just falling around his face. 

You let a satisfied smile spread on your face, and pull your hands downwards to bring the ice back down from your brother’s body.

Hakki claps, having been off to the side while you and Kuten sparred.

“I gotta say, little sis,” Hakki says, and you resist the urge to wince at him calling you something like that. “Even when we haven’t been teaching you so well for the last couple years, you still managed to kick Kuten’s ass.”

“Shut up, would you?” Kuten shoves Hakki, and you laugh. Your more studious brother brushes himself off. “All of us know that Y/N is the best waterbender in our family. If Master Pakku trained her it’d be over for everyone.”  
“Maybe someday he’ll come around to the idea,” Hakki claps his hand on your shoulder. “Right, Y/N?”  
“How should I know?” you grumble. “I can’t even talk to the man aside from when Yue and I join in on council meetings.”

“Ahh, Yue,” Hakki sighs, a dreamy look overcoming his face. “She’s so pretty. Talk to her for me, would you?”  
“Not gonna happen.” you deadpan. “She’s way, way out of your league.”  
“Well she’s gonna have to get married soon anyway,” Hakki says with a shrug as the three of you begin your trek back to the city. “And you will too. You’re almost fifteen.”

“I’m never getting married,” you say.

Both of your brothers stop in their tracks, jaws dropping. 

“What?” you say, raising a brow.  
“Don’t say that!” Hakki shushes you, grabbing your arm. “You can’t even think something like that!”  
“He’s right, Y/N,” Kuten nods. “Dad will need you to get married to someone on the councils’ son to solidify our place as the Left Chieftain's family.”

“Why can’t one of you do that?” you snap. “You know that Arnook became the chief by marrying Yue’s mom, not the other way around. It’s not like I can marry up, only down, so why get married at all?”

“Because you’re–” Hakki starts, then shuts his mouth.

You round on him, setting your mouth in a fine line. “Because I’m what? _A girl_?”

Hakki cringes, rubbing his arm. “Well, yeah.”

“You two are just like everyone else, you know,” you spit harshly. “You pretend like you care by teaching me some stuff you learn, but it’s not like you ever tried to convince Master Pakku that I’d be a worthy student. I could beat any of the boys in your group with one hand and yet, because I’m a girl, I don’t deserve to learn?”

“It’s just our culture, Y/N,” Kuten says, but you thrust a hand out at him, the snow at his feet flicking out along with it.

“Well our culture is wrong! And you think I should get married for no reason, too! I’m not righteous like Yue! I don’t care about the rules! I’m not getting married, and I’m gonna show everyone that a girl can be the best waterbender they’ve ever seen!”

Kuten throws his hands up in front of him like a surrender. “Hey! I’m not saying you can’t be the best waterbender. Just that you could do that and get married.”

“Whatever,” you grumble, brushing your hair away from your face. They continue walking. “Even if I eventually get forced into it, I’m definitely not getting married before I’m eighteen.”

“We’re almost eighteen,” Hakki elbows Kuten in the side. “Are you suggesting it’s time for us?”  
You give him a less than impressed look. “You two just turned seventeen, and also, why should I care when you get married? As long as you leave my best friend alone.” 

-

**age 15**

“I really can’t believe we’re getting tested on this,” you groan, slumping back in your chair and shutting your eyes. The series of scrolls, _Major Families of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation_ , sits open on the table between you and Yue.

The princess giggles. “Y/N, this is important. I’m an advisor and you’re my advisor. And you’re the Left Chieftain's daughter, which means if these families study the major families of the Northern Water Tribe, they’d know you.”

“Fair,” you nod, sitting up. “Alright, test me.”

Yue clears her throat, picking up the scrolls so that you can’t see what’s written on them. “Alright. Hm…” she scans over the paper, seemingly picking out some names. “What is the name of the Fire Lord who came before the one currently reigning?”

You squint, scrunching up your face in concentration. You count in your head. Ozai, Sozin… there’s one in between and that must be the guy…

You snap. “I got it! Azula!” 

Yue sighs, giving you her ‘are you serious’ look. “No. I don’t think male names can end with ‘a’ in the Fire Nation.”  
You frown. “For real? I thought that was definitely right.”  
“It’s Fire Lord Azulon. Azula is the princess of the Fire Nation.” Yue explains. She looks over the scrolls again. “Alright, how about the Crown Prince?”  
“Of the Fire Nation?” you ask, and Yue nods. You hum, thinking to yourself. Crown Prince… who the heck knows? You don't even know where these scrolls came from, considering trips to and from the nearest point of the Earth Kingdom are few and far between here in the North Pole. They’re probably at least five years old, likely more like ten. The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation could be dead for all you know. 

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.” you say, admitting defeat. “What’s his name?”

“Prince Zuko,” Yue says, setting down the scrolls. “Y/N, I told you we should know these things!”  
“I’ll learn it, don’t worry,” you respond with a wave of your hand. “You know I may be smart, Yue, but I’m just not studious.”

“Believe me, I know,” her friend mutters, and you laugh. 

It’s then that Yue tilts her head back, stretching out her neck and arms for the first time that day, and you notice it.

“What is that?” you ask, eyes wide as you point at Yue’s neck.   
The princess snaps her head back down, her own blue eyes wide with shock. “What is what?”  
“Yue!” you exclaim. “Your necklace! You got engaged and didn’t even tell me?”

Instead of waving it off, or getting annoyed, Yue’s gaze just falls down to the table. Her gentle fingers come up to rest on the betrothal necklace around her neck. The stone is soft and shiny, carved with care. It’s a unique design, rather modern for an engagement charm.

“Hahn proposed to me.” she says simply. 

Your eyes nearly pop out of your head. “Hahn? That… _that_ Hahn?”

You don't need to elaborate more. Both of you get what you mean. 

Yue sighs. “Yes.”  
“But… why?” you frown. “Why would you agree to that? I know you don’t like him.”  
“For the sake of our people,” Yue responds, looking off into nothing. “My father preferred a non-bender, so that he wouldn’t become too power hungry. Hahn is a great warrior and Councilman Sim’s son. We discussed it beforehand, so it’s not like it was a surprise.”

You stare at your friend, a sad feeling taking over your entire body. Yue. Always so loving, and always so loved. And yet, you know Hahn, and you know that he couldn’t care less about her as a person. Surely all he was seeing out of the marriage was the future position of Chief of the Tribe. Yue would not be loved by him. And that hurts you. 

Yue deserves better. She deserves true love and a happy life unrestricted by the rules of the Northern Water Tribe in which she was born a princess. But Yue is not like you. She is selfless. 

“Well… you don’t have to get married right away, right?” you ask, twiddling your fingers. 

Yue nods. “Not at least until after I’ve turned sixteen. My father promised.”  
“Alright then,” you nod, standing. You place your palms flat across the table, and grin at your best friend. “Princess Yue, you will fall in love at least once before you are married! I will make sure of it!” 

Yue laughs.  
You’re relieved to see her smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> clips of our main character's years in the northern water tribe as she grows older !


	3. the avatar

Hakki groans, rolling over onto his stomach and extending his limbs so that he looks like a starfish on the soft snow. 

“Y/N,” he mumbles, the word sounding gargled by his face being half smushed into the snow. “Stop. Beating. Me. Every. Time. It hurts.”

You clap your hands, what little snow that had collected on your gloves falling to the ground in its own little snowstorm. “I don’t beat you _every_ time.”

“Basically every time,” Kuten comments, leaning back against a chair of snow he fashioned.   
“You look comfortable,” you cross your arms. “Wanna go next?”  
Your brother sits up from his relaxed position with wide eyes. “No thanks. I have to go on watch for a week tomorrow and I’m not into being sore while on duty.”

“Alright,” you shrug, then brush your hair away from your face. “Should I just cut all this off? It’s annoying while fighting.”

“Cut off your hair?” Hakki exclaims, rolling back over and standing quickly. “Y/N, Mom would freak out! You’ve never had more than a trim!”

You roll your eyes. “It’s just hair. I’m young, so it’ll grow back.”

“What’s the point when you can’t even waterbend in public?” Kuten asks, also standing. “If you’re gonna cut your hair, at least make a statement and do it right before you get engaged or something. It’ll be the talk of the decade.”

You laugh, reaching up to ruffle your brother’s shaggy cut as you walk over. “Good idea.”

“Let’s head back, I’m supposed to be having tea before dinner with Kimare’s family tonight and I really can’t be late,” Hakki says, putting his hands behind his head with a lazy smile. 

“She’s kinda ditzy, don’t you think?” you ask, following behind him with Kuten. “Not that it’s a bad thing, just…”  
“She’s not the smartest girl around,” Kuten nods in agreement.  
“Whatever,” Hakki grunts, shooting a dark look over his shoulder. “She’s pretty and nice and that’s what matters to me.”

“I’m only mentioning it because if you decide to marry her you'll have to get used to not having any meaningful conversations with women,” you say, subtly raising your hand to see if she can pull off the sheen of water on Hakki’s coat.

“You know what, Y/N, that’s just you, okay?” Hakki snaps, whipping around before you can get the water to listen to your hand. You stop with wide eyes as Hakki points a finger at you. “You only care about power and strength and smarts, but love is important too, y’know? Love and happiness is what actually matters in relationships.”

You raise your brows, and lift your hands up. “Sure, if that’s how you feel.”

Hakki’s jaw clenches and he turns around, stalking ahead with another word. 

“He’s kinda right, you know?” Kuten says, patting you on the head as you two keep walking. “You’re lacking in emotional intelligence.”  
You give him a doubtful look. “And I don’t need it, so I guess that works out, huh?”  
“If that’s how you feel,” Kuten echoes your earlier words.

You follow the path you made on your way out of the capital city, luckily not needing to make any extra bridges. It is the middle of winter after all, so pretty much everything is frozen over on this side of the wall. 

“Hey, are the flags waving?” Kuten points at the watchtowers closest to you, squinting.  
You put a hand above your eyes to shield them from the bright sun. “Yeah, I think so. They don’t usually put them up for Yue’s birthday?”  
“I think it’s something else,” Kuten squints.  
“What else could it be, though?” you frown.  
Kuten looks over at you and shrugs. “Let’s find out, I guess.”

You and Kuten head back into the city, still confused at why everyone seems to be running around in excitement. Although it is your best friend’s birthday, Yue’s feast isn’t until tonight, and even if she is the princess, most people don’t get this excited about her birthday.

“Should we ask someone?” Kuten scratches his head as you stop over one of the canals.  
You lean on the parapet, frowning. “Dad will know. I’m tired, though, let’s hang out here for a minute.”  
Kuten just shrugs, leaning in the same way next to you. 

You shut your eyes, enjoying the cold wind striking your cheeks. Your hair, loose from how you usually wear it in two braids, lifts slightly along with the moving air, tickling your nose and catching among your eyelashes. You think back to Hakki getting mad at you, trying to understand what he meant now that he isn’t here to argue back.

Maybe it’s true that you mostly care about strength and power, but then, isn’t that what most people care about? You aren't concerned with love not because you never want to fall in love, but because you know it’s useless anyway. You’re the only daughter in an important family. The chance that you’ll get to pick who you marry is close to zero, even with more progressive parents. Your dad will probably make a deal with one of his friends who has a son around your age, and that’ll be that.

So you might as well enjoy your strength and power while you can.

“Woah,” Kuten breathes out, and you open one eye, looking at him. But your brother is focused on something else, ahead of you. “What is that thing?”

You frown, opening both eyes fully and standing straight, turned to the front. It takes you a moment to realize what it was that Kuten was looking at, and yet, even though your eyes widen, you still can’t seem to pin down what it is either.

It’s a big, really big, furry creature swimming through the canals with an escort in front and behind it. And sitting on top of it are three people, two of them wearing water tribe blue, and one bald boy with arrows all over his body, wearing shades of brown and orange.

Your eyes widen even further when they pass below the bridge you and Kuten are standing on. The creature has arrows too, and the boy with the arrows had some kind of small monkey on his shoulder. 

“An airbender?” you whisper, running to the opposite side of the bridge to stare in awe. The only girl on the animal seems to catch your eye, giving you a toothy smile. You can’t manage to wipe the look of shock off your face.

“Airbender?” Kuten repeats, joining your side again. He looks between you and the animal. “You… really think that’s a real airbender?”  
“He has the tattoos! Yue and I read all about them. Only airbending masters were able to get the tattoos. They represent the chi paths a bender has along their body.” you explain, resisting the urge to point at the boy as he and the others get farther away. “And I think those animals must be a sky bison and a winged lemur, which were only present in the Air Temples.”

“But then…” you turn to Kuten as he hums, tapping his chin. “Doesn’t that mean that kid is the Avatar?”

You think about the lessons you and Yue and the rest of your class of girls sat through considering the Air Nomads and the disappearance of the Avatar. It’s been a hundred years– how could the Avatar look so young? 

And yet… there are no waterbenders left in the South Pole, according to the news Chief Arnook received a few years ago. The Avatar hadn’t reincarnated here in the past 100 years, so unless they died while in Avatar State and the cycle was broken, the Avatar had to be alive. 

And that boy you saw is the last Airbender alive, if the reports about the complete genocide of the Air Nomads were to be believed.

“Yeah…” you say, watching the sky bison turn a corner and disappear out of sight. “I think he is.”

“Hi there,” you say, lifting one hand to wave. You offer the three travelers standing in front of you a smile. “I’m Y/N, and I’ll be your palace guide today.”

“Hi Y/N,” the three chorus back to you, all with bright grins. 

“So,” you say, folding your hands in front of you and looking straight at the boy in the middle. “Are you the Avatar?”

His grin changes into more of a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uhh… yep. That’s me. The Avatar.”  
You smile with an equal amount of brightness at that. “Cool! What are your guys’ names?”

“I’m Aang,” the Avatar says, and bows respectfully.  
“I’m Katara,” the girl says, and attempts to bow, but looks a little awkward and less-practiced.  
“The name’s Sokka,” the other boy says with a confident smirk. He’s by your side and sliding an arm around your shoulders within a moment. “You wouldn’t happen to know any girls with white hair, would you?”

Girls with white hair…?   
You look at him incredulously. “Are you talking about Yue?”

“So that’s her name,” he muses, slipping away to press a thoughtful forefinger to his chin. “The name of the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

“Uhh, alright,” you say, shifting. You look back to Aang and Katara. “I’ll show you guys around now?”

“Sounds amazing!” Aang says, cracking another wide grin.

Ten or so minutes later, you lead them through the second floor of the palace.

“In here is where we have council meetings,” she says, gesturing to one of the closed doors. “And in that room is where the Chief meets with the other major councilmen, like my dad.”

“So are you like, someone important here in the Northern Tribe?” Katara asks, walking side-by-side with you.   
You chuckle. “Not really. Because my dad is the Left Chieftain, meaning he’s the Chief’s right hand man, my brothers and I get entrusted with some semi-important stuff. But I don’t have that much influence on anything, if that’s what you’re asking.”

You take them up the stairs to the third level. 

“So what’s it like in the Southern Tribe?” you ask, then point to one of the large rooms with no doors. “That’s the Masters’ Guild room. They meet there to discuss students, ranks, and waterbending stuff in general.”

“Woahh,” Aang and Katara’s eyes are wide.

“The Southern Tribe is nothing like this, I’ll tell you that,” Sokka answers your question. “We don’t have big, fancy buildings. This city has gotta be at least ten times as big as our whole village.”  
“You’re saying the entire place you grew up in is one village?” you exclaim, her eyes nearly popping out of her head. “No cities?”

Sokka and Katara both nod, the latter of the two looking a little embarrassed.

“It’s small, but it’s our home. We have fierce warriors, that are currently off fighting in the war. I’m planning on joining them someday,” Sokka elaborates.   
“Oh, that’s nice,” you hum, still thinking about them growing up in a village. There are at least a dozen villages in the North, in addition to the massive city of Agna Qel’a. You wonder how they communicate between villages without a major city to help.

“Sokka wants to be a warrior, but I want to be a waterbending master,” Katara says proudly. She smiles at you, and then touches her hand to the necklace she’s wearing, which you squint at. “I’m the last waterbender in the South.”

“Is that…” you whisper, but then shake your head. Better not to comment about it. She doesn’t seem old enough to be engaged, so there must be another story behind the necklace. “I didn’t know there were any waterbenders left in the South at all. We heard they were all taken by the Fire Nation.”

Sokka and Katara share a look, seeming melancholy, and suddenly you wish you’d have asked about the necklace instead.

“I’m the last one,” Katara responds simply.

“Well, there are plenty here,” you say to change the subject. “Up the stairs again are some classrooms. That’s as far up as we can go, because the Chief and his family live on the floors above.”

You walk through the hallways of the fourth floor, Aang taking curious peeks into the classrooms, surprising the children inside enough that they start begging to go see why there’s a boy with arrows all over him in the palace. 

“So how are you still so young?” you ask Aang after shooing a few kids back into their classes. “The Avatar is supposed to be over a hundred years old by now.”

He talks as the four of them walk back down the way they came. “I froze myself into an iceberg in the Avatar State for a hundred years. Apparently. That’s what it seems like, at least.”

You give him a questioning look, but Aang seems to be enjoying taking in all the new scenery, and in case there’s a darker element to that situation, you let it go.

“That sounds cool,” you say. “I’ll take you guys to where you’re going to be staying now.”  
“Wait, we’re not staying here?” Sokka asks, looking very concerned.  
You frown, tilting her head. “No, why would you be?”  
Sokka squints. “Because… we’re very esteemed guests?”

You laugh, and pat him on the arm. “Even the Avatar has to get a hotel room, okay? The palace is for the Chief’s family only. But don’t worry, I live nearby your guys’ temporary place!”

That night, the Chief and councilmen decided that in addition to the already planned feast for Yue’s sixteenth birthday, the feast was now also going to be held in the Avatar’s honor. 

“Oh, I’m so nervous,” Yue says, checking her appearance in the mirror for what feels like the thousandth time.  
“Relax, you look pretty like always,” you tell her, lounging in the big chair in the princess’s room.  
“Y/N, can’t you be a little formal for once in your life?” Kayo, one of Yue’s other friends that you have never been able to get along with snaps at you. 

You just roll your eyes, ignoring her.

“Hey, that guy from the Southern Tribe asked about you earlier, Yue,” you say to change the topic. The princess turns around, looking at you in surprise.  
“Really?”  
You hum, nodding. “Yeah. Did you meet him already or something?”  
Yue frowns. “No, I don’t remember meeting him. Maybe we passed by each other while I was being taken across the city earlier.”  
“Oh, that’s probably it,” you stand, brushing off your coat. “They were riding around on their sky bison through the canals.”

“Ladies, it’s time to prepare for your entrance,” Yue’s handmaid pokes her head into the room to talk. “Come downstairs to the Grand Hall right away.”

“Of course, Irra,” Yue answers politely. “Come on, girls.”

You and Kayo walk a couple steps behind Yue, you taking care to copy Kayo’s strict and artful posture, hands tucked into the heavy sleeves of your special coat. 

As the three of you stand back in the dark to wait for your cue, you hear Chief Arnook announce the dinner to everyone in attendance.

“Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe.”

You can’t see Sokka and Katara, but you can imagine their happy smiles as they sit in the front row. Esteemed guests. You guess Sokka was halfway right about that.

“And they have brought with them someone very special, someone who many of us believed disappeared from the world, until now...” Arnook pauses. 

“Ooh, the tension,” you whisper, cracking a smirk.  
“Shh!” Kayo hushes you with a mean look.

“The Avatar!”

Everyone claps and cheers. You mentally clap and cheer, hoping Aang doesn’t feel too overwhelmed by the reaction to his appearance in the North.

“We also celebrate my daughter’s sixteenth birthday,” Chief Arnook says.

Yue walks forward, and you and Kayo follow behind in exact pace, emerging into the large dining hall. You are surprised to see Appa, the Avatar’s sky bison, sitting off to the side being fed some large leaves, but shift your focus back to standing and looking pretty.

“Princess Yue is now of marrying age,” Arnook continues.  
Yue turns to him with a polite smile. “Thank you father.” she looks back at the attendees. “May the great ocean and moon spirits watch over us during these troubled times.”

“Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!” the Chief gestures across the room where the head Master waterbender and two young students you aren't familiar with begin their choreography.

You watch as the crowd claps. Your eyes drift over to Aang and Katara, who look amazed by the Master and his students’ bending, their eyes wide and smiles stretched all the way to the edges of their cheeks.

Should you have told Katara that girls aren’t allowed to practice waterbending here? You almost think you should have, and yet, a large part of you doesn’t want to be the bearer of bad news. Plus, it might be better for the Avatar and his friends not to know that you have been secretly learning waterbending for almost ten years. They might let it slip, and then you can’t even begin to imagine the trouble Hakki and Kuten would get in for breaking the law. 

Master Pakku and the two boys finish with a flair, the large amounts of water they’d pulled up from three pots snaking back in like glimmering coils. 

“Let’s sit down,” Yue says to you and Kayo. You nod, and while Kayo follows Yue to sit down on Sokka’s left side, you move to stand behind Katara and Aang, leaning down with a smile. 

“Mind if I join you guys here?” you ask quietly, putting your hand on Aang’s shoulder.

“Oh, hey Y/N!” Aang exclaims, and quickly moves to the side so that you can sit down in between them. “Are you friends with Princess Yue? I saw you come in with her.”

You nod as you begin eating off the platter in front of the three of you. “Yup. I was born a month after her and our dads are friends. We grew up together.”

“That’s amazing!” Katara looks just plain excited, talking in between her munching on some roasted root vegetable thing Yue always requests for her birthday dinners. “I didn’t have any friends my age, aside from Sokka.” she glances at said boy out of the corner of her eye.  
“Are you and him related?” you ask, figuring they look kind of similar.  
Katara laughs behind her hand. “Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that. He’s my older brother by about two years.”  
You smile. “I see. My brothers are two years older than me, too. They’re sitting over there with my parents.” you point across the room to where you can spot Hakki and Kuten sitting beside your mom and dad. Since you’re Yue’s friend, and one of the first people to meet the Avatar, you got the privilege to sit away from the rest of your family for tonight.

“They’re twins?” Katara asks, following your finger with her eyes. You nod, and Katara ahhs. “That’s cool. I’ve never met twins before. Are they waterbenders?”  
“Yup,” you answer, glad that Katara didn’t ask if _you_ were a waterbender. “They’re both guards for the outer wall. They completed their training a few months ago.”

“How long did they train for?” Aang asks, his mouth full with food. You crack a smile at his goofiness.  
“They started when they were five. You just start whenever you start bending, and then finish when the Master decides you’re done.”  
Aang’s eyes pop open. “Really? I had to take a final exam to become an airbending master.”  
“You had to take a test to be a master?” you raise a brow. You glance at Katara, but the girl seems to be teasing her brother about something. Looking back at Aang, you shrug after he does. “That sucks. But my brothers aren’t masters. They’re just considered graduated waterbenders. They can become masters if they continue their studies in technique and combat.”

“What about you?” Aang asks innocently as he continues to stuff his face. “This stuff isn’t bad, you know!”  
You freeze, glad he isn’t looking at you. “What… what about me?”  
“Are you a waterbending student?” Aang elaborates, and this time Katara appears to be paying attention. She leans over with a smile.  
“Yeah Y/N, are you going to be training with us?”

You try your best to offer them a smile that doesn’t seem like a grimace, brushing your hair behind your ear. “No, I won’t be training with you.”

“Aww, man!” Aang deflates. “It would have been more fun if we knew someone there.”

“You can show me what you learn after, if you want,” you say to try and lift his spirits again.  
Aang grins at this. “Great idea, Y/N!”

You slump on your bed after the feast, Kuten lying on the rug on the floor beside it as he fiddles with some rope.

“This is bad,” you say plainly.  
“What is?”  
“The girl from the southern tribe, Katara.” you sigh. “She thinks that she’s going to become a waterbending student here.”

“What?” Kuten sits up. “You didn’t mention that girls can’t learn waterbending here?”  
You cringe, rubbing your temples. “No. I was too nervous. She seemed so excited, and so did the Avatar. Master Pakku can be the one to disappoint them tomorrow morning.”

“Y/N,” Kuten climbs up from the floor and sits on your bed beside you. “You should have said something. When they find out you’re a bender, they’ll feel so betrayed that you didn’t warn them. Especially the girl.”  
“I know,” you groan. “But I just couldn’t do it. And it’s not like I lied. They never directly asked me if I was a waterbender. Just if I was a student. And I’m not.”

Kuten just sighs, which bothers you because you know it means he’s disappointed in your choices.

“Why don’t you go tomorrow at sunrise to see what happens?” Kuten suggests, which you attempt to argue with, but he keeps talking before you can start. “That way you can apologize right away for not being clear with the girl about the situation, and comfort her when she inevitably gets upset about our customs.”

_Rather than comfort, I would like to start a revolution together_ , you think to herself, but Kuten would scold you if you said that aloud, so you keep it in your thoughts.

“Alright, I guess,” you groan, stuffing your face into your pillow. “Wake me up when you’re leaving for watch then.”  
“Sounds good,” Kuten pats your shoulder. “And say sorry to Hakki about calling his girlfriend a ditz.”

You just groan in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> miss y/n meets the current gaang!


	4. girls of the north

“Katara!”

You lean over to put your hands on your knees, huffing air in and out as you try to catch your breath. Kuten tried to wake you up, according to your mom, but the party left you a little tired and you slept in later than intended. You tried to catch up to Aang and Katara, but by the time you reached the teaching plateau, Katara was already walking away alone.

“Oh, Y/N,” Katara says, looking sullen. “It’s good to see you.”  
“Thanks,” you say, standing tall with some effort. You cringe when you see Katara looking at the ground. “Umm… did you meet Master Pakku?”  
“Did I meet him?” Katara exclaims, suddenly looking fiery. “I met him, and he’s a bitter old man who thinks girls are incapable of fighting!”

You sigh, your own eyes falling to the ground. “It’s not that. He’s just following our traditions, however outdated they are.”

“You don’t see anything wrong with these traditions?” Katara questions, clearly extremely bothered by what she discovered this morning. “Even if you aren’t a waterbender, there must be girls here that want to learn more than healing!”

You shift uncomfortably, rubbing your arm. “Actually, Katara… I am a waterbender.”

You look up, and Katara’s eyes are wide, her lips hanging open.

“...What?” the southern girl says, expression wavering.

“I… I know you probably assumed I wasn’t, and I should have told you about Master Pakku being unwilling to train you. But a part of me didn’t want to destroy how excited you were. And I was hoping that maybe because you showed up with the Avatar, he might teach you.”

“You–!” Katara starts with an exclamation, but then sighs, biting her lip. “I understand. It must bother you, too.”  
You nod. “Yes. I’ve never been that good at healing. My mother is a master healer, and she always says that I lack a ‘gentle touch’. I’ve wanted to be like my brothers my whole life.”  
Katara hums sadly. “So… you never learned any fighting techniques? Even with so many waterbenders around?”  
You crack a half smile, brushing back your hair. “Actually, I know a thing or two. My brothers were more loyal to me than the law, when we were younger and they weren’t busy.”  
“Really?” Katara exclaims, her eyes lighting up for the first time in their conversation. “Could you show me?”  
You wince. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. At least not right away. Let’s let things cool down first, to make sure nobody is suspicious of you.”  
Katara nods. “Okay. That makes sense.”

You look around, and luckily nobody was nearby to overhear your conversation. It is just a few minutes after dawn, you suppose.

“Well, what are you up to now?” you ask.  
Katara shrugs. “Master Pakku told me to see Yagoda for a healing lesson. Do you know where to find her?”  
“Oh,” you nod. “Sure, I can take you there. If you don’t mind, though, I’m not really up to sit through a whole lesson when I already know I’m kind of bad at it.”  
Katara laughs. “I don’t mind. Thank you regardless, Y/N.”

You smile, glad to see the girl looking happier. You pat Katara on the head. “Of course.”

You knock on Yue’s door after lunch, having spent the day helping your mom prepare some pickled vegetables for the rest of the long winter. 

“Yue,” you sing-song, waiting for your friend to open the door. “Are you busy?”

It takes another couple seconds, but Yue eventually comes to open to door. You gasp in surprise when you see the state of the princess. Her hair is loose and down, hanging like a snowy curtain around her face, and her eyes look red. 

“Yue! What happened?” you exclaim in shock, grabbing the girl by the shoulders. 

Yue just groans, taking your wrist and pulling you inside the room, shutting the door behind her. The princess sits down on her bed, running her hands over her face. 

“Y/N,” Yue says, sounding more distressed than she ever has before. “I think I’ve made a grave mistake.”

“What?” your eyes are wide. You sit down by your friend in a flash, gently taking her hand. “What do you mean?”

Yue sniffles. “I think… I really like someone. And it’s not the person I’m engaged to.”

You stare at her, trying to comprehend first what she had said, and then why it was so terrible that she had apparently cried over it and considered it a grave mistake.

“Well… who is it?” you ask.  
“Y/N!” Yue snaps, surprising you so much that you flinch back. “That’s not what’s important about this. I shouldn’t be disloyal to my betrothed. It’s not right.”

You frown. “Yue, you need to take a step back and calm down. This isn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Yue doesn’t answer, continuing to sniffle behind her long hair. Her hands shake, though, and it tugs at your heartstrings.

“Yue, I swear,” you urge her. “Please, don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not a crime to like someone.”  
“It’s just that it’s not fair to him,” Yue whimpers. “He seems so kind.”  
“Well who is it?” you ask again, trying to think of who Yue could have such thoughts about. Who’s kind, that you know? “Renuk? Or maybe, Sidun?”

“No,” Yue shakes her head, and turns to look at you with her teary blue eyes. “It’s Sokka. The boy from the southern water tribe.”

Your jaw drops. “...Sokka?”

Yue just nods.

“Oh.” you say.

“I’m supposed to see him tonight, but I regret making plans. I went to visit Hahn and his family earlier and I just started to feel so terrible about leading Sokka on.” Yue cries softly.  
You frown, wrapping your arm around your friend. “You’ll just have to tell him the truth and see what he says. I agree that he seems kind. He probably won’t even care as long as he can see you, if he returns your feelings.”  
“But it’s still not fair,” Yue wipes at her tears. “We’d never be able to be together.”

“Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe,” you announce, sitting straight up. Yue frowns in question, but you just go on. “Didn’t I promise that we’d find someone for you to fall in love with before you got married?”

“Huh?” Yue looks at you with confusion, then her eyes clear. “Oh… you mean what you said a few months ago?”  
You nod, smiling. “They won’t be here forever. Why don’t you enjoy your time with him? You might as well. Just try to stay out of Hahn’s neighborhood.”

Yue chuckles. “I guess you’re right.”

“Let’s fix your hair, then,” you say, gathering Yue’s shiny white locks up in your hand with a grin. “Can’t have you meeting Sokka with this going on!”

“They did _what_?” your eyes are wide as you question what you just heard from Yue. 

“It’s just as I said. The Avatar was teaching Katara waterbending last night and Master Pakku caught them.” Yue says with a sigh. “Could the past twenty-four hours get any more complicated?”

You rub your forehead, already feeling a headache develop there. You told Katara yesterday that it was risky to try and teach her in secret so soon after not only their arrival, but her rejection from lessons. And then they just went and practiced waterbending in the middle of the city last night?

“Well, what’s gonna happen?” you ask Yue.  
The princess looks unsettled. “Apparently Katara requested to speak to the council today. Master Pakku said he would no longer teach the Avatar as a result of his disrespect.”  
“What?!” you exclaim. “How do you just refuse to teach the Avatar?”  
“I know.”

You groan. “This is terrible. I should have made it more clear that she could _not_ learn here.”  
“But _you_ have been,” Yue comments with a look from the corner of her eye.  
“But I do it in secret!” you say. “I mean, really in secret! Outside of the city, in the middle of nowhere. Not out where anyone could see.”  
“Well,” Yue sighs. “You can come to the meeting if you want. I don’t think my dad said your dad would be there, so you can just sit in for him.”  
You nod. “Alright. Maybe we can stand up for them somehow.”  
“Against Master Pakku?” Yue asks, looking doubtful. “We’ll see about that.”

“What do you want me to do?” Chief Arnook’s voice rings out clearly from the steps of the main hall. “Force Master Pakku to take Aang back as his student?”

You shift in your seat, feeling the tension in the air rise as Katara, Aang, and Sokka stand before the council.

“Yes. Please.” Katara answers simply.

“I suspect he might change his mind if you swallow your pride and apologize to him,” the Chief responds. 

You know your face must look sour, but you can’t help the expression that spreads across it. How could he say something so distasteful? Apologize for _what_?  
Spirits, it's so frustrating, and you grew up in this place. You can’t even imagine how Katara must feel about this.

“Fine,” says Katara, after a few seconds. She looks back to Aang, her whole body strung tightly.

“...I’m waiting, little girl,” Master Pakku says, his voice smooth and snake-like.

You grit your teeth.

Katara’s hands clench into fists, and you can practically see her begin to fume.

“...No.” the girl snaps. “No! No way am I apologizing to a sour old man like you!” 

Suddenly, the floor beneath Katara and the pots on either side of her crack violently, water pouring out from the pots onto the patterned ice tile she’s standing on.

“Uh, Katara?” Aang questions, but she ignores him.  
“I’ll be outside if you’re man enough to fight me.” Katara says directly to Master Pakku, and stalks away.

Yue and the Chief look appalled. You crack a smile.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean that,” Aang says with a sheepish look.  
“Yeah, I think she did,” says Sokka. 

The two boys chase after Katara without another word.

“I can’t believe a guest would be so insolent,” Chief Arnook says, his entire face a caricature of surprise. 

_I can_ , you think, but keep it to yourself. 

“You won’t really fight the girl, will you, Master Pakku?” Councilman Sim asks.  
Master Pakku lets out a short laugh. “Of course not. It wouldn’t do to embarrass a young girl like that. She’ll learn her lesson with time.”

“I think you should give it a shot, Master,” you say suddenly, surprising even yourself. All eyes snap to her, Yue’s sending a clear _stop it right now!_ message. “How will we know you would really defeat her, if you choose not to fight?”

“Y/N!” Chief Arnook exclaims. “How dare you speak against Master Pakku like that?”

“Against?” you ask, standing. “Why, my intention was only to encourage him to show us his amazing skill in waterbending. Surely he wouldn’t be afraid of fighting a… little girl.”

“Afraid?” Master Pakku stands too, his eyes narrow. “It isn’t fear that keeps me from facing that girl as an opponent. It is only respect for our culture, which I see you have none of, daughter of Nokun!”

“I have a name,” you hiss.

“Please, enough of this!” Yue stands, splaying her hands out. “Y/N, don’t argue, please!”

“I’ll take my leave, if nobody minds,” Master Pakku cuts in coldly, and makes his way down the stairs without looking back. 

“Y/N,” Chief Arnook regards her with frustration. “I never knew you to be like this. What’s gotten into you?”  
“I mean no disrespect, Chief,” you say, although you don't soften your look. “I simply agree with Katara of the Southern Tribe.”

You turn and walk down the steps, looking over your shoulder when you reach the bottom.

“I’m sure something will happen outside, whether Master Pakku wants it to or not. Spectators, feel free to follow me!”

You walk outside to see a massive ring of moving water encircling Master Pakku and Katara on the grounds outside the Hall. You join Sokka and Aang on the sidelines, observing.

“How’d it start?” you ask, the corner of your lip tilted up as the ring spins tighter.  
“Uhm, Katara kind of smacked Master Pakku in the back of the head with water,” Aang says.

Suddenly, the water comes flying towards the three of you, hitting Sokka and sending him toppling over a few feet behind you.

A crowd starts to gather to watch nearby you and Aang as the fight continues, Katara running up a slide of ice the Master made, which he then melts and sends pouring towards her as a heavy wave while she stands on a pot. Katara freezes her feet to the pot and redirects the water away from her.

“You can’t knock me down!” she says fiercely.

“Yeah! Go Katara!” cheers Aang.  
“You can do it!” you call, a grin plastered across your face.

This is amazing. You’ve never, not once, seen a girl fight before!

Katara runs towards Master Pakku, who throws up a wall of ice, but the girl quickly melts it and tosses it to the side, attempting to land some physical hits. Master Pakku easily dodges and throws Katara into the nearby pool with a coursing flow of water.

You cringe, but Katara rises back up quickly. Some kids start cheering for her, which only serves to bring back the smile on your face.

Katara brings up a cylinder of ice out of the pool, sending thin slices of it as projectiles towards Master Pakku, who splits them as they come towards his hands. 

“Out of the pool Katara! Use what you already know!” you shout, hoping Katara knows some of the things that you do.

Katara heeds your advice, jumping out of the pool as the last disc of ice comes dangerously close to Master Pakku’s face, and brings a torrent of water with her, thrusting it towards the master. He easily pulls it from her control, though, and reforms the water to form two waves, which he pushes towards Katara as she runs at him. 

Katara doesn’t dodge in time, getting knocked over. She gets up onto her knee, and with a quick, harsh motion, pulls down the ice-pots stacked up on either side of Master Pakku. He pulls his hands together and pushes them out, and the pots explode into snow, sending a light spray of it falling down around them in white fog.

“Well, I’m impressed,” Master Pakku says as he claps his hands free of the powder. “You are an excellent waterbender.”  
“But you still won’t teach me, will you?” Katara states, probably knowing it’s not really a question.  
“No.” answers Pakku.

“She’s gonna keep going,” Aang says in wonder as Katara does just that.  
“She’s doing well,” you assure him and Sokka, who has got back up and received a blanket from someone. “Usually the fights between Master Pakku and his students don’t last this long.”

Almost like ironic punctuation, Katara is immediately encased by shards of ice raining down from above through Pakku’s control.

You blink. “Oh. Nevermind.” 

Katara grunts, trying desperately to free herself from the icy prison.

“This fight is over,” Master Pakku tells her, and likely the crowd, based on the way his eyes flick towards everyone gathered to watch.  
“Come back here! I’m not finished yet!” Katara shouts after him.  
“Yes. You are.” he answers, then stops in his tracks as he seems to spot something on the ground. Master Pakku picks up something small and blue. “...This is my necklace,” he says, sounding awed.

“No it’s not! It’s mine. Give it back!” Katara exclaims.

“The betrothal charm?” you wonder aloud.  
“B-b-what?” Sokka sputters at you, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

“I made this sixty years ago,” says Master Pakku, staring at the necklace. “For the love of my life, for Kanna.” the ice shards around Katara melt, leaving her free to stand before him again.

“My Gran-gran was supposed to marry you?” Katara asks with wide eyes.

“Everyone, please leave the area immediately!” Chief Arnook’s booming voice sounds from the steps above you. You turn around and see him and Yue making their way down the stairs. 

Assuming that doesn’t include you, Sokka, or Aang, the three of you continue down to the ice grounds where Katara and Master Pakku are with Yue and her father. The rest of the crowd clears away as per the Chief’s request.

“I carved this necklace for your grandmother when we got engaged,” says Master Pakku, turning away from the group. “I thought we would have a long and happy life together. I loved her.”  
“But she didn’t love you, did she?” Katara asks, sounding far more empathetic than you would have expected for someone who just got their ass kicked. “It was an arranged marriage.”

You glance over at Yue, who seems to be touched by the story, in one way or another.

“Gran-gran wouldn’t let your tribe’s stupid customs run her life,” Katara walks forward to stand by Master Pakku. “That’s why she left. It must have taken a lot of courage.”

At this, Yue starts crying, pressing her hands to her face and running away.

“Yue!” you exclaim, taking a step to follow, but Aang grabs her wrist, looking from her to Sokka.  
“Go get her,” he says to his friend, who nods. You step back, watching Sokka chase after her best friend.

Master Pakku hands Katara the necklace back.   
“I think we need to discuss the Avatar’s training,” he says to her. “And maybe yours, too.”

“You did what?” your mom exclaims in horror, slamming her hands on the table.

“I just said it. I got the Avatar to force Master Pakku into agreeing to train me.” you say simply.

Hakki starts laughing maniacally while Kuten just ruffles your hair as your parents groan.

“Y/N,” your dad addresses you. “I can’t let you do this! Your brothers teaching you for fun is one thing– but what will people say about our family if you start learning combative waterbending?”

“Well, maybe they’ll say: ‘Hey, girls are good at waterbending too! We should totally get rid of the laws that say they can’t so we can have tons more great warriors!’”

“Oh, oh my spirits, moon and ocean, please give me strength,” your mom falls to her knees, shaking her head. “My daughter…”

You feel a slight pang of guilt, thinking of how maybe your mom’s reaction would have been different if she still had another daughter.

“Come on, mom, don’t be so dramatic,” Hakki stretches out, grinning at you. “She’s the best waterbender in our family. You’ll be proud to show her off.”

“She’ll be the only girl!” their dad blurts.  
“No, Katara will be there.”  
“The only Northern girl! The only normal girl!”  
“Well, for now.”

Your dad falls to his knees too.


	5. for the young

“Again,”

You pause, staring at Master Pakku with a hard look on your face. He raises a brow.

“You won’t do as I say? Maybe you’d like to stop learning, then.”

“No,” you say quickly. You look behind you, at the rest of the class. You were put in a different class than Katara, since after a demonstration to the Masters, they determined that you were of a higher skill level. As a result, you’d been sitting through awkward and tense lessons where you were completely ostracized by the other students.

“But I have to ask why you’re so quick to try and get me to leave,” you say, looking back at Master Pakku. “I know you’re training Katara with a lot less resistance. Is it just because you used to love her grandmother?”

“Back off, Y/N!” one of the boys whispers loudly from behind you.

Master Pakku stands. “You think I’m favoring Katara?”  
You shake your head. “No. I think you’re treating me unfairly. I’ve repeated this move at least a dozen times, while the boys only have to do it once. Why is that?”  
“Because they’ve been learning technique since they were young,” Master Pakku retorts. “And you haven’t. It’s as simple as that. Either continue or leave.”

You clench your jaw. You _have_ been learning since you were young, but it’s still too risky to out your brothers for having taught you. As of now, Master Pakku and the rest of the council think you just secretly broke the rules yourself and happen to be extremely talented. 

Well, fine then. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Master,” you bow. “Please let me duel the other students. One by one, I will beat them all, and I request that you treat me fairly after I prove myself as the best waterbender among us.”

“What?”  
“What’d she just say?”  
“The best? Is she crazy?”  
“Master, there’s no way–”

“Fine.” 

You lift up your head to see Master Pakku wearing a smirk on his thin lips.

“I respect your confidence, even if it may be misplaced. If you can defeat all eleven of your classmates, one after the other, I will look on you no differently to the rest of them. In fact, if you can beat eleven boys in succession, I will train any girl of a level comparable to my young male students.”

Your eyes widen. Any girl? You figured Master Pakku and the other masters would slowly start to accept female pupils, but all at once? One fell swoop of acceptance? 

Master Pakku lifts a finger. “On the condition that if you fail,” he pauses, a sharp look in his eyes. And yet, in that look, you do not see malice. Rather, the excitement of a heavy, weighted challenge. “You will abandon waterbending altogether.”

The boys all gasp in surprise, understanding how severe of a loss that would be. But you know they would be glad to oust you from their class.

Master Pakku has got to be either ridiculously confident that you will fail and he won’t have to teach any more girls, or has already decided to teach girls and wants to lay the pressure on thick.

Alright then. He can play his game. You’ll play yours.

You try to keep the smug look off your face as you nod. “I can accept that. Who’s up first?”

A few minutes later, the boys have elected to send the weakest of the bunch first and build up to the best waterbender among them, Nivru, who will go last. You overheard them making their strategy, so you already know they’re hoping that if you get through the first ten, Nivru fighting you when you are tired out will take you down.

It only invigorates you more, though. You feel hot blood coursing through your veins, tightening your braids to ensure that your hair doesn’t get in your way. 

Paq, the first opponent, steps onto the training ground, looking nervous. As a group, they hadn’t seen much of your bending, but he probably knew from what he had seen that you’re leagues better than him. 

You rub your gloved hands together. 

“Begin!” Master Pakku calls to start the match.

You bring your hands up and pull a fast stream of water to you, circling it around your body and firing it towards Paq without a second’s hesitation. He stumbles but manages to pull it around his body and redirect it, but it’s met with a thick wall of ice, from behind which you dart out, sliding across the ice and shooting another powerful stream of water at the boy. He topples in seconds, tumbling across the floor pathetically.

“Who’s next?” you call when Paq scrambles back to the group like a polar bear-dog with its tail between its legs. 

You take each and every boy down, one through ten, but you can’t deny that by the time Nivru steps up to the plate, you’re totally exhausted. Your hair has fallen out of its usually clean braids, and although it’s freezing cold outside, you can’t stop sweating and panting.

“Scared, Y/N?” Nivru teases, stretching out his wrists. “I don’t blame you.”

“Ignore him, Y/N!” 

Your eyes flash to the bridge above the training grounds, finding a crowd of moderate size gathered. You aren't sure when they started watching, but Sokka who shouted down at her, Katara, and Aang are there. Yue is too, standing by Sokka with a worried look on her face.

“You got this!” Katara calls in encouragement. “Just breathe!”

You nod, taking in a deep breath and letting it out, your breath becoming a wisp in the cold air. 

If you lose now, it wouldn’t even be a respectable win for Nivru. All he would have done is defeat a girl with less training who fought ten people before him. And yet, it wouldn’t matter. You would have to give up being trained by Master Pakku, and the future of female waterbenders in the north would remain questionable. 

You have to win. Not only for yourself. But for all the little girls whose potential is squandered before they even have a chance.

“Scared?” you say under your breath, cracking your knuckles as you look at Nivru. “That should be you.”

“Begin,” Master Pakku says lazily this time.

You wait, having initiated the fight every time so far. Nivru’s eyes widen when you don't make the first move. You smirk. He’s unsettled.

Nivru makes a move, swiftly creating a wave of water curving to the side and sliding up it, coming around behind you. You spin into a crouch, pulling water up as you go down, using the momentum to fire the spiral towards him. Nivru narrowly dodges, jumping down from his slide and unfreezing it to push the water towards you. You feel water flick onto your cheek as you take control of it from him and raise it into the air, firing it as multiple small ice projectiles at him. 

Nivru chooses to simply run out of the way, drawing water from one of the pots nearby and swinging it around him to thrust at you. As it nears you, you plant your feet and turn one ever so slightly when the water is a foot away, giving you the center of gravity to take the water and slam it into the ground, sending tiny, mist-like droplets of water exploding into the air around them. 

Nivru wastes no time in gathering more water, wrapping his arms in tentacles and reaching out with them to try and wrap around your arms. You huff out tiredly, grabbing your own water to give yourself water-legs, lifting your body to three times Nivru’s height. You struggle to maintain it, though, and when Nivru changes his plan to simply send another torrent of water flying at you, you get knocked down, having the sense to freeze the water into soft snow for you to land on.

“Y/N!” you hear Yue exclaim.  
“Don’t, Yue!” Sokka’s voice comes after.  
“Come on, Y/N!” Aang motivates. “Get back up! It isn’t over yet!”

You groan, opening one eye to see Nivru standing above you with a proud smile. 

“One,” he counts, his smile becoming more smug when you don't move. “Two–”

You kick out your foot, hooking your ankle around his and yanking him down. You climb to your feet as he falls with a yelp, melting the snow around him into water and freezing it into ice again, leaving Nivru trapped in a block of hard ice with no way to move his limbs.

“ _Hnngh_!” he struggles, trying desperately to use his feet to bend the ice, but you know there’s no way he’s advanced enough for that. “Let me out! You already lost, this is playing dirty!”  
“But you didn’t make it to three,” you respond, gasping between your words as you lean down to put your hands on your thighs. “I will, though. One,” you glance up at the bridge, catching Yue’s gaze as the princess looks down in awe. “Two,” you look at the other students, who seem horrified that the guy they put all their faith in didn’t pull through. “...Three.” finally, you look at Master Pakku, who raises a brow from where he’s seated at a chair of ice he made earlier. 

“Y/N wins, again.” the Master says with a sigh. “Unfreeze him now, please.”

You laugh, which must make you seem a little crazy and a little mean, but you don't care. You lift your hands, standing tall, and flick your fingers out, releasing Nivru from the block of ice. 

Immediately, he scrambles to his feet and tries to hit you with a water whip, which you stop abruptly with your hand, freezing the whip into a pointed icicle, standing nose to nose with the boy. 

“Try that again,” you say quietly, so nobody else will hear. “And I won’t just stop you.” you punctuate it by crumbling the ice into snow, which falls gently to the ground.

“Nivru!” Master Pakku calls, his tone seeming less than pleased as he stalks over to the two of them. You step back when you see the Master’s deeply furrowed brow and pulled back lip. “How dare you attack another student after being bested? Have you no honor?”

Nivru looks horrified. “I didn't– that’s not what I was trying to do!”

“Don’t lie to my face,” Master Pakku snarls. “You attempted to hit her with a water whip after she gave you three long counts. You must reflect on your actions, a student must never disrespect another student like that, regardless of their gender. Do not come to lessons for two weeks.”

Your brows lift, and the corner of your lip with them.

“Master, please–!”

“Class is dismissed,” Master Pakku cuts him off coldly. “Everyone leave except Y/N.”

You watch as all eleven boys trail off, mostly staying in one big group. You’re sure they’re talking about you, probably all negative, but you can’t bring yourself to care. Of course they’ll keep excluding you, and you can’t really blame them. They’ve all been learning together for years, after all.

You just wanted acceptance from your Master, if you were to continue learning from him.

“Y/N,” Master Pakku says, turning to face you. You tilt your head, expectant. He squints, pauses for a long few seconds, and then bows, surprising you. “You have earned my respect. I allowed this… Battle Royale, as I figured you would probably fail. But you have proven that you are a far more worthy student than I assumed from your demonstration. Your talent lies not in artistry, it lies in execution. You are a powerful waterbender, and I cannot ignore strength.”

You grin, and bow deeply. “Thank you, Sifu Pakku.”

For the first time in your life, Master Pakku smiles at you. 

“ _Woohoo!_ Yeah, Y/N! Show those boys how it’s done! Girl power!” 

You look back at the bridge to see Katara throwing her fist in the air with a massive, toothy grin. You laugh behind your hand.

“How do you know how to do this?” Katara asks, admiring your halfway-done work in the mirror in front of you. “It looks so complicated.”  
“It is,” you say, finishing off one part of the intricate traditional Northern hairstyle you’re doing on the younger girl. “I used to do Yue’s hair a lot. She has a handmaid, of course, but we thought it was more fun to get ready ourselves. Sometimes her other friends would try, but I was always the best at it.”

“Her friends?” Katara asks with wide eyes. “You didn’t consider them your friends too?”  
You shake your head. “Kayo, Niala, Esori… they all kind of get on my nerves. Some more than others.”  
“Why is that?”  
You roll your eyes as you continue on Katara’s hair. “Most of the girls here in the North genuinely believe that their place in society is to be a wife, and healer if they’re a waterbender. I can’t blame them completely, but I’ve just never felt that way. _Been_ that way. My parents aren’t super strict, but it’s not like they’re progressive either. They let my brothers teach me waterbending, but I still have the same expectations as other girls. I just never believed in their validity.”

Katara hums. “So they were all happy to get married young and have a family, but you want more than that out of life.”  
“Well,” you bite your lip. “I don’t think it’s the worst thing to want those things. You can accomplish a lot by being a kind person and a good mother. I’m sure that’s what Yue’s life will be like, even if she’s too smart to ever give up advising the council. But I’m not romantic or sympathetic or especially ladylike. I always knew I was good at fighting, and I like feeling strong.”

Katara nods, then winces when you jerk her head back as you tighten a braid.

“I just had no idea what my future would be like,” Katara says after a moment where she looks like she’s in pain. “There was pretty much nobody for me to marry in the Southern Tribe. There’s basically nobody in my village but grandparents and little kids now. And the other villages were so far away that we lost contact a couple years back.”

“Really?” you ask, brows raised. You remember Sokka saying that Agna Qel'a must be ten times as big as their village. “I bet you’re glad you left, then.”  
Katara sighs. “It doesn’t have the best memories, honestly. Sokka and I haven’t had an easy childhood.”

You frown sadly, watching Katara touch her necklace through the necklace.

“That necklace,” you say, and Katara looks up to meet your eyes through the mirror. “You said it was your grandmother’s?”

Katara’s hand drops back down to her lap, and her gaze follows. “My Gran-gran passed it down to my mom, and she gave it to me.”

You aren't sure how you know, but you can just feel it. “...How’d she pass away?” you ask, and Katara’s eyes flash back up in surprise.  
“How’d you know?”  
You shrug. 

Katara sighs again. “When I was really young, the Fire Nation showed up at our village. I remember playing outside with Sokka, and suddenly there was this weird, gray snow coming down from the sky. But it wasn’t snow, it was ash.”

You keep your hands busy so you don't have to look at Katara through the mirror as she talks.

“They came looking for a waterbender. Somebody, probably whoever they last captured from our tribe, told them that there was still one waterbender left in the south. Obviously, that was me, but…” Katara trails off, touching her necklace again. “My mom lied and told the captain or whoever that it was her, to protect me. We all thought they would have taken her prisoner like the did with all the other waterbenders, but instead, they–”

She stops short, sniffling.

“That’s horrible,” you whisper, your fingers pausing. “How can they be so cruel?”

“I know,” Katara says weakly. “I’ll never forgive them. The Fire Nation is full of evil people like the man who killed my mother.”

You think back to the day you and Yue were studying the major families of the Fire Nation. Fire Lord Ozai, Princess Azula, Prince Zuko… all of those people lived happily and freely while other Nations’ people were brutally killed around the world. You think of that faded red insignia on the ship that brought about Yuna’s passing. Your jaw clenches, and you feel Katara’s grief deep in your heart.

“At least it doesn’t happen here,” Katara continues. “I’ve heard they haven’t attacked this city in eighty years.”  
“About that much, yes,” you nod. “We’re always waiting for it. The day when they decide it’s time to conquer the Northern Water Tribe.”  
“There’s so many waterbenders here,” says Katara, sounding hopeful. “I’m sure they wouldn’t be successful.”  
You sigh. “I hope you’re right about that.”

You lounge on Yue’s bed, undoing the braids you’ve had your hair in all day as you wait for your friend to come back from whatever she’d been doing this late at night. Well, you know what she was doing. But for Yue’s sake, you’ll pretend like you’re clueless.

Your hair is completely loose, your skincare is done, Yue’s desk is organized, the rugs have been combed through, and you’ve gotten so bored that you’re plucking tangles out of the fur in your coat when Yue finally returns.

The princess yelps when she turns around after closing her bedroom door behind her, pouting when you laugh.

“Y/N! How long have you been here? What are you even doing here?” 

You shrug, turning over so that you’re lying on your back and hanging halfway off the edge of the bed. “A while.”

“Can you answer the second question too?” Yue asks with her hands on her hips.

“Uhhh, I thought it was obvious? I was waiting for you.”

Yue blushes, turning her face. “Well, thanks. But… why in my room?”  
“Because, Yue,” you roll back over and rest your chin in your palms, fluttering your lashes at your friend. “I think you were out with Sokka! And I’m here to listen to you talk about it.”  
“What?!” Yue exclaims, her eyes popping open. “Why would you– where did you get that idea?”  
You chuckle. “I think your vehement denial is only making it more obvious that I’m right. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know. We all think you make a cute couple.”  
“A cute couple…?” Yue rubs her arm, sitting down in the chair in front of her vanity. “I guess so.”

You sit up, tilting your head. “Am I actually wrong? I’ll be so surprised if that’s the case.”

“No,” Yue shakes her head. “You’re right. I was with Sokka.” a dreamy smile overcomes her lips.

You smile too, standing and going to help undo the princess’s complex hairstyle. “What kind of activities did you guys do?”  
Yue groans, looking flushed again. “Don’t remind me about the activities thing.”  
“Well, it’s funny.”

Yue gives you a pointed look through the mirror, which you just shrug at as you let down the top section of your friend’s white hair.

“We just walked around the city together, and he took me to pet Appa. Even if we don’t do anything, I like spending time with him. He’s so funny, and charming, and kind…”

Your smile widens as you hear Yue go on about Sokka. “You really do like him, huh?”  
“Of course I do,” the girl responds. “Who wouldn’t?”  
“Me, for starters. Not my type.”  
“You don’t have a type, because you’ve never even liked a boy!”  
“Not true, Mr. Betan says hi.”  
“He’s twenty years older than us!”  
“And?”

Yue groans as you laugh, letting down the rest of her hair. 

“Anyway, can I sleep over? It’s kinda late to walk and I have practice down the street in the morning anyway.”

“Of course you can,” Yue smiles through the mirror as she begins to comb her hair. “My bed is always big enough for two.”  
“What about three? Y’know, in case Sokka ever–”

“ _Y/N!_ ”

You slump onto Yue’s bed, yanking your hair out of its braids with exhausted hands.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired in my whole life,” you say through a yawn, having the sense to kick your boots off the edge of the bed. After all, since it’s Yue’s, she has the nicest furs. 

“Tell me about it,” says Katara, undoing her own complicated southern hairstyle. “The last time I was this tired was when we flew straight here for over two days.”

Yue giggles from her place at the vanity, never missing a night of skin treatments and oils. “You girls go ahead and fall asleep, I’ll just push you to the side when I need some room.”

“That was some birthday party,” you sigh happily. “Thanks again for the hairpiece,Yue. I’ll have to figure out a new look so I can wear it everyday.”  
“You don’t have to thank me!” Yue says, glancing over at you. “I’m happy to give you something for your sixteenth.”  
“Sorry I didn’t have a present for you, Y/N,” Katara mumbles, clearly already half asleep. I didn’t–” cue a yawn. “Have enough money for anything good.”

You brush a hand over the younger girl’s hair, imagining for a split second that it wasn’t Katara in the bed next to her, but Yuna, grown up to the age she would have been by now. “Just you being here is enough of a gift.”

“I’ll turn off the light now while I change,” Yue announces. “Goodnight, girls.”

“Goodnight,” you respond.   
Katara is already sleeping.

You tuck yourself under the blankets, Yue joining you only a couple minutes later. You snuggle into the bed, feeling beyond content with your two best girl friends by your side.


	6. token

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for 1000 hits!

For some reason, you never quite expected this day to happen. Sure, it had happened to Yue, and it had happened to your mom years ago, and to pretty much every other Northern girl. And yet, maybe because of your resistance to the idea, you had pushed away the idea that you would be subjected along with everyone else.

“Spirits, I’ve never seen your hair look this fancy,” Hakki says, leaning against the vanity in their mom’s room. “It’s all… wiggly and stuff.”  
“Wiggly? Can you refrain from being idiotic on an important day like this?” Kuten flicks Hakki.  
“Important? More like the regrettable,” you mutter. Your mom tugs especially hard on the last braid to be laid down the center of your back, almost definitely as a result of her negative comment.

You didn’t have as much time to prepare for today as you would have thought, otherwise you would have cut your hair short like Kuten suggested.

“Y/N, you might be against this now, but you’ll surely grow to love your fiance over time,” your mom says, finishing the hairstyle with the same beads she apparently wore on her betrothal day. “I barely knew your father, but we fell in love and had a beautiful family together.”

“Ew, can’t imagine Y/N with kids,” Hakki says, making a face.  
“Me either,” you say, your nose wrinkling.  
“I can, but she’d be the most chaotic mother ever,” Kuten rubs his chin. “Could be good, or bad.”

“Pinch your cheeks, look alive for once,” your mom tells you.

You roll your eyes and gently pinch your cheeks, watching a tinge of red lift to the surface of your skin. 

Your mom sighs, but steps away. “Alright. They’ll be here any minute now. Let’s get your cape on.”

You stand from the stool in front of the vanity, the image of your face with a touch of makeup and intricately done hair disappearing from view as your mom grabs the betrothal cape from a chest in the closet.

It’s a delicate garment, long and white, with the finest fur in their family’s entire wardrobe lining the bottom. Your grandmother had carefully stitched the pattern in beading onto the fabric, waves like the ocean and the small face of an arctic fox-dog, the family’s crest of sorts. 

It’s a shame that while you feel very pretty with all of this on, you can’t stop the sense of dread growing in her chest.

“You look so beautiful, Y/N,” your mom tells you after draping the cape over your shoulders. Your mom wipes a tear from the corner of her eye, which only makes you feel worse.

You have no doubt that had Yuna never passed away, she would have been far more receptive to something like this than you are being. Yuna was always like the petals on snow roses, soft and gentle and feminine. She made chalk drawings of herself getting married in the future when she was six years old. When you were six, you got in trouble for getting in fights with the neighborhood boys… and winning. 

Your mom got stuck with a daughter who never wanted more than to have the freedoms of a son. 

“Yeah, you look amazing, little sis,” Hakki walks over to pat you on the shoulder. He smiles a kind, brotherly smile, his one sharp wolflike tooth sticking out.  
“I only wish we could know who the lucky boy is before he walks into our house,” Kuten sighs, combing his hair in the mirror. 

“This is tradition,” your mom says, also fixing up her hair beside her son. “Your dad and I aren’t the most traditional parents, so we might as well do this the right way.”

You hear talking, male voices coming from the front door. The feeling in your chest grows exponentially, beginning to feel like something squeezing on your heart, making it hard to hear and breathe.

“Y/N, are you okay?” Hakki asks, suddenly sounding very concerned as he grabs both your shoulders.  
You keel over, clutching your brother’s arms and desperately trying to breathe. “Yup. Just give me a second.”

Someone knocks on the door, and then it opens.

“Are you ready, Y/N?” It's your dad’s voice.

“She’ll just be a moment,” your mom answers, coming over to rub your back. “She’s a little tense.”

 _Tense?_ you repeat mentally, nearly laughing. _I wish that was all this feeling is._

“Alright, come out when you can,” your dad responds, closing the door again.

“Hey, Y/N,” Kuten says, also coming to stand beside you. “If you don’t like him, you’ve got two brothers to get you out of anything, remember?” you lift your head up in time to see Kuten give your mom a cheeky smile. “Pretend you didn’t hear that, mom.”

You manage a laugh and stand fully, letting go of Hakki’s arms. “Okay. I can do this. Brothers dearest, if he is weird, please use your strong manly characteristics to get me out of this place.”  
“You got it, little sis,” Hakki shoots you a winning grin and a thumbs up.

Your mom just sighs, wiping at her forehead. “Y/N, let’s walk out now, okay?”

You nod, taking a deep breath and letting it out as your brothers each take one arm, and your mom walks to the door, opening it and gesturing with her hand as you are walked out of the room into the living space.

It’s quiet for a moment, and you can’t muster the energy to lift your head and see who it is that you’re going to get engaged to, instead, the horrible sick feeling coming back to plague your stomach this time.

“Y/N, our family is honored to meet you for such a beautiful occasion,” a man’s voice rings out. It’s not familiar, but you think you may have heard it before. “We have long thought you and Valan would make a great match.”

_Valan?!_

Your head nearly snaps up in shock, but you manage to look up in a less jerky way, your eyes wide when they land on Kuten’s close friend from school, and his mother and father standing to his sides.

Your brothers let go of you and move away, as do Valan’s parents, and he approaches you, a small box in his hands.

He is handsome. There’s no doubt about that, considering you have thought that about this boy for a pretty long time. He’d come over to your house once in a while, and you had seen him around and said hello a few times because he’s close with Kuten. Valan is tall and lean, with hair that brushes the bottom of his sharp jaw, and dark sea-blue eyes. He is a non-bender but never seemed to let that phase him, from what Kuten said. He is the same age as your brothers, which makes him about two years older than you. And Valan will be your husband.

You resist the urge to throw up, swallowing down how sick you feel.

“Y/N, it is a great blessing for us to come together, especially after having known your brother for so many years. I hope we can have a happy union.” Valan says, his voice nothing but sincere. 

You try your best to smile. “Me too.”

He looks a little disappointed at how short your response to his proposal was, but it’s all you can come up with, especially since you’re not a super wordy person in the first place. 

Valan opens the box, and lifts out of it a betrothal necklace not too different from the one that Yue wears, or even Katara’s. The ribbon is a cool medium blue, the charm a light translucent teal stone. Valan has carved a simple but elegant design into the stone, lines swirling with a sense of motion to them, a sense of power. 

“Y/N, I ask for your hand in marriage. If you accept, please let me place my token of loyalty around your neck.” Valan says, holding the box in one hand and the necklace in the other.

You look away from his face, choosing instead to focus on that necklace. How can something so beautiful make you feel so afraid? You can’t stop thinking that once that thing wraps around your throat, it will feel like a collar where Valan holds the leash. Being a young wife isn’t too different to that, honestly. 

You take a deep breath in and let it out quietly. If it was going to be someone, at least it’s Valan. You can tolerate it. At the very least, you can tolerate engagement. 

“I accept,” you say softly, and hear both your mother and Valan’s gasp happily. 

Valan smiles, a good-natured, handsome smile, and hands the box to your father with a bow. He then turns back to you, and you turn around, fingers intertwined tightly with themselves so nobody can see your hands shaking.

Valan gently pushes aside the three braids down your back, and lays the necklace over your throat. The charm feels cold against your skin– cold and unusual. And amazingly fast, Valan has clasped the necklace shut and moved your hair back into place. 

You turn back around.

Valan is smiling more brightly now, and his fingers come up to rest ever so lightly atop the charm for a moment, falling back to his side when Valan’s father speaks up.

“Thank you, Nokun and Kalla, for allowing our son to bind his life with your beautiful daughter. I’m happy to see our families come together like this.”

Your dad laughs, coming up to clap the other man on his shoulder. “Me too, Vaq. Although I think we should allow the betrothed some time to each other?” he turns to you and Valan. 

You stare at your dad with wide eyes, trying to wordlessly communicate that you do not want to spend alone time with Valan right now.

“I would be honored if you would entrust me with Y/N,” Valan says, bowing his head. 

_Entrust?_ You resist the urge to scoff. If anyone was getting entrusted to anyone else, _you_ were going to be entrusted with _Valan_. Between the two of you, you’re sure you would be a thousand times more capable of protecting him than the other way around.

“Why don’t the two of you take a walk together?” your dad says. “I’m happy for you two to get to know each other better.”  
“I agree,” Vaq, Valan’s father, nods. 

Valan looks down at you. “Would you?” he offers his arm.

You consider saying no, but that would probably make the entire environment painfully awkward. 

“Sure,” you mumble, interlocking your arm with his. 

“We won’t be too long,” Valan addresses the families.

“Take your time, son,” your dad says with a pleasant smile.

Valan leads you out of your house with a small laugh, his mom shutting the door behind the two of you. As soon as you’re down the street somewhat, he drops his arm and stops, and your arm falls with it. You tilt your head, stopping at his side, but don't speak first.

“You look a little uncomfortable,” Valan says, blinking. “I don’t want to make you hold onto me if you don’t like it.”  
“I don’t,” you reply simply.  
Valan sighs, glancing away with his hands behind his back. “I had the feeling you might not be totally happy with this marriage. You’ve always seemed carefree, even wild, especially for a girl. But I meant what I said. I’ve admired you for a while now, and I hope we can have a happy union.”

You sigh too, rubbing your arm and looking away. Across the canal are some of the boys from her waterbending lessons. You look sharply in the other direction. Once it gets out that you’re engaged, you’re sure the teasing from them will only get worse.

“Valan,” you say, knowing you have to explain yourself a little to him. Even if Valan is friends with Kuten, he can’t possibly know everything about you and why you aren't keen on marriage. “I’m sorry if this is selfish, but I have to ask you not to take it personally. How I act towards our engagement, I mean. I sincerely did not expect my parents to arrange a marriage for me so soon after my birthday.”

The boy in front of you nods, a small smile appearing on his lips again. “I understand. You thought you had more time before dealing with the prospects of marriage.”  
“Exactly,” you say. 

Valan shrugs. “That’s fine. I don’t want to get married right away, anyway. My studies are important to me, and I’m sure you’re focused on catching up with waterbending. We have plenty of time to treat this casually. Eventually, I think we’ll be ready, and hopefully you’ll be happy to marry me then.”

His words tug on your heartstrings. You aren't sure what to say. It would be honest to say that the issue isn’t him, it’s your society, but that wouldn’t solve any problems, and Valan doesn’t seem to be in a rush anyway.

“Yeah, hopefully,” you hum, touching your fingertips to the stone pendant around your neck.

-

You clap your hands to get the snow off, then bow to Nivru as Master Pakku frees him from the wave of ice you suspended him in… about 20 feet in the air. 

Nivru bows back, looking irritated as he does it, and immediately stalks away back to the rest of their class.

“Y/N,” Master Pakku says, actually smiling at you. He sighs. “I never thought I’d see the day where my two best students are girls. You’ve done an excellent job with the more complex techniques, and I have to say the sheer power in your bending shows great potential.”  
“Thank you, Master,” you bow deeper, feeling hugely validated by one of the rare compliments you have gotten from Master Pakku. Typically, even if you are the best, he will just say a plain good job and move onto critiques. 

“You are excused, the others have no reason to fight you if not even Nivru has a fighting chance,” Master Pakku waves his hand.  
You resist the urge to laugh and nod. “Yes, Master. Have a good day.”

You turn and depart the training ground, practically skipping up the stairs to the bridge where your friends are standing around waiting for you.

“Y/N! You’re amazing! You’re so cool! You look like a total pro!” Sokka exclaims, throwing his hands in the air.  
Yue giggles behind her hand. “I have to agree. You’ve really grown into what your brothers taught you.”  
“Yeah, you have to show me that move you did at the end– it looked just like the geysers in Huemi province!” Aang says brightly.  
“And the way you yanked the water right out of that guy’s hands,” Katara says with wide eyes and a big grin. “He looked so surprised!”

You laugh openly this time, feeling pure joy for the first time in years. You never thought you’d be able to waterbend in public _period_ , let alone take down other students with practiced and taught skills. And you certainly never expected that the Avatar and his southern water tribe friend would ask you to show them your style of bending.

“Thanks guys,” you say with a bow of your head. “I can’t believe things are actually going so well.”

“How could they not go well when you bend like that?” Aang questions, then rubs the back of his neck. “Geez, I really gotta practice.”

“You’re doing well, Aang,” you say, patting him on the head. “You’ve got the right spirit.”

In fact, you have been watching a lot of Aang and Katara’s lessons to keep up with their improvement. The two of them and Sokka had relayed to you their journey since Aang was brought back into the world, via Katara cracking open his iceberg by accident, and you were very intrigued by the idea of having to master all four elements before the return of Sozin’s comet. The comet is notorious; even you, who was never that into studying history, have learned as much as the three of them did. It not only began the hundred year war, but allowed the Fire Nation enough power to commit genocide against the entire Air Nation. You can’t even imagine what kind of havoc the comet could wreak on the two remaining strongholds of your city, Agna Qel’a, and Ba Sing Se in the Earth Kingdom. 

You know that Aang could likely master waterbending if he stayed here for a few more months. But if he does that, you aren't sure how he would really have enough time to learn both earthbending and firebending before the comet comes supposedly at the end of the summer next year. Maybe if they leave, Katara will be good enough to teach him.

And yet… you aren't exactly sure of Katara’s prowess being enough to actually instruct Aang rather than just practice and learn with him.  
Well, maybe. She is a quick learner.

“Y/N!”

Your head whips around, eyes bulging out when you hear a now familiar voice call out your name.

Valan waves from the road below the bridge. He turns to the guy he was walking with and apparently says goodbye, because he then bounds up the stairs to approach you and your group of friends.

“I caught the end of your fight. I had no idea you were this good at bending,” Valan says with a handsome smile.  
“Ah,” you rub your arm. “Thanks.”

“Valan,” Yue says from behind you, sounding confused. “I didn’t know you and Y/N were friends.”  
“Friends?” Valan repeats, then looks at you with a frown. “You… haven’t mentioned it to the Princess?”

You glance away, catching sight of Paq’s battle with another one of your classmates. Spirits is that boy pathetic…

“Mentioned what?” Yue asks, her hand landing on your shoulder, forcing you to look over at your friend.

“Oh, you know…” you chuckle awkwardly, brushing your hair behind your ear. “Me and Valan are sort of engaged now.”

“What?!” Yue exclaims, with the same word or variation on it getting repeated by the other three people behind her.  
“Surprise!” you say with a weak smile, wiggling your fingers. 

Valan sighs from your other side. “Y/N, can we talk?”

You catch Sokka and Aang slowly creeping away, probably hoping to make their escape before it gets any more awkward. 

“We’ll let you two have a minute,” Katara says with a smile, taking Yue’s other hand and leading her away, giving you a look that reads ‘good luck’. 

You turn back to Valan, finding it hard to match his eyes.

“I really thought you might at least have told your best friend,” Valan says with another sigh, wiping his hand over his face. “Are you really that ashamed of being engaged to me?”

“What?” you ask, frowning. “Where’d you get that idea?”  
“From three days passing and you keeping our engagement a secret,” Valan answers.  
“I wasn’t doing that intentionally, it just didn’t come up,” you say defensively. “Yue did the same thing to me.”  
Valan crosses his arms. “I guess practicing waterbending is more important than sharing big moments in your life with your friends.”  
You resist the urge to roll your eyes. “Waterbending _is_ a big moment in my life. I’m the first female waterbender in the North for hundreds of years. Sorry if you can’t handle that.”

You stew in annoyance for a few quiet seconds, looking pointedly away as you assume Valan does the same thing.

Valan sighs again, but sounding softer this time. He reaches out and gently places his hand on your cheek. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I guess I still have some traditional expectations and I know that isn’t you. We’ll work through it over time.”

You continue to look away even as your posture relaxes. Valan may be saying sweet things and all that, but for some reason it only unsettles you more. He’s so confident about you maintaining a future together. To him, your marriage is inevitable and only a matter of time away. For you, it seems like something obscure, something you can avoid if you just don't mention it. 

“Yeah, sure,” you mutter, tugging on your fingers. “I’m sorry too.”

“I think the Avatar and his friends are waiting for you still,” Valan says. You look behind you, and surely enough, the entire Gang and Yue are hanging back, trying to look like they weren’t watching the argument. “You should join them. I’ll see you tomorrow night for the dinner I planned.”  
“Sure,” you nod, leaning away from his hand. “See you then.”

You turn and leave without any more of a goodbye.

-

“I can’t believe both of you have to get married when you’re still so young,” Katara says, her hand gesturing in the air even though she’s laying down on Yue’s bed. “I can’t imagine getting married in two years.”

“You’re telling me,” Y/N sighs, yanking on her braids, wishing it wasn’t improper to wear it down. “I can’t imagine that either.”

“Such is life,” Yue says, applying her nighttime creams. “At least your fiance is handsome and polite, Y/N. I wish my father had tried harder to find someone like that.”

Y/N cringes. She can’t really complain, in comparison to Yue. Her best friends’ situation was much worse than hers. 

“You’re right of course,” Y/N says, undoing her braids. “There’s nothing wrong with Valan. I’m just not really into the idea of romance or marriage.”  
“Wait, love?” Katara sits up, a brow quirked. “I thought it was just getting married young that was the issue with you. You don’t even care about love?”  
Y/N shrugs. “Not so much. My only crush was our Water Tribe history teacher Mr. Betan.”

Katara laughs while Yue groans.

“Maybe you’ll fall in love with Valan,” Yue says hopefully. “Then you’ll know how nice it feels. The flutters in your heart when you see him, the urge to hold hands…” she sighs happily.

“Wow, it is so weird hearing someone talk like that about my brother.” Katara deadpans, and Y/N laughs.  
“I get the feeling. My brother’s girlfriend came over for dinner a week ago and totally gushed over him to me.”

“What I want to hear is someone gushing over Y/N,” Yue says, finishing with her creams and turning around to face the other two girls. “Someday. I’m dying to see her enjoy her romantic life.”  
“If the boys here in the Water Tribe don’t interest you Y/N, maybe you’d have better luck travelling the world with us!” Katara exclaims, sounding like she’s joking by the way she laughs and Yue chuckles along with her.  
Y/N smiles. “Maybe.”

The conversation continues until Y/N and Katara leave to walk back to their neighborhood together, but the entire time, Y/N thinks about what Katara said. 

Travel the world with Team Avatar… it doesn’t sound so bad. And if she met a boy better than Valan on the way, wouldn’t that give her a way out of the marriage?

She thinks about the stories Aang, Sokka, and Katara have told her about their travels so far. Two Air temples, the Great Divide, the city of Omashu, a mountain with a secret love tunnel, a fortune teller. All of it sounded so exciting. So much more exciting than the life Y/N has here, even with waterbending lessons.

Travel the world…  
Hm.


	7. the firebender

“How could you just forget about the dinner?” Valan asks, pacing up and down your living room as he throws his hands up. “I even reminded you the day before!”

“I’m sorry!” you exclaim. “I was with Yue and Katara and it slipped my mind. If you really want to, let’s just go tonight.”  
Valan groans, clearly frustrated. “It’s not just about going to eat together. You really don’t care to spend time with me. That’s the problem.”  
You look away awkwardly, not knowing how to respond when he’s right.

Valan seems to realize exactly why you hadn’t answered, and combs through his hair with his fingers fiercely. “You can’t even deny it. Am I the only one who wants to make an effort between us, Y/N? It’s not like it’s easy for me, either, but I’m trying to make it so both of us can be happy!”

You stand, furrowing your brows. “I’m sorry if it sounds harsh, but I’m not going to pretend to be happy just so you don’t feel bad.”  
Valan laughs, and it’s the first time you have ever seen him look quite this aggravated. “That’s very selfless of you.”  
“What do you want me to say then?” you snap.  
“It’s not about what I want you to say, it’s about what you do!” Valan exclaims, then shakes his head. “Whatever. I’m leaving. You can contact me next time you feel like I’m worth a few minutes of conversation.”

He stalks away from you and out the door, slamming it behind him. You sigh, wiping a hand over your forehead. You seriously did not feel like dealing with this today, in fact, you were supposed to be watching Katara and Aang’s sparring practice. But you can’t help but feel a little bad about hurting Valan’s feelings… Kuten did tell you that you are lacking in emotional intelligence. 

You sigh again and adjust your coat, walking outside. “Valan?” you call, but stop in confusion when you see him standing still in front of your house, staring up at the sky. It only takes a moment to see what he’s looking at. 

You open your hand, jaw dropping as a piece of black snow lands in it. It melts into your gloves, but leaves a dirty residue that you have never seen before. 

“What is this?” you mumble aloud.  
“I’ve read reports about this from the Earth Kingdom,” Valan says, turning around to face you. His brows are tightly furrowed. “It’s ash, from coal powered ships.”  
Your eyes widen. Wait… hadn’t Katara mentioned this? “You mean…?”  
Valan nods. “The Fire Nation.”

You pause, the black snow continuing to fall around the two of you. The Fire Nation. They haven’t shown up here in eighty-five years, and only one thing has changed in that time. About a month ago, the Avatar arrived.

“They must be here for Aang,” you mutter to yourself, turning around and pushing back into your house. “I need to go help.”  
Valan is quick on your trail. “What are you talking about? You should take your mother and come to my house where you’ll be safe.”  
“Safe?” you laugh sharply as you change into your treading boots. “If they make it inside the city, nowhere will be safe. I’m a talented fighter, so I’ll help protect Yue and the Avatar.”  
“Y/N, no,” Valan insists, grabbing your arm as you stand with your boots. His eyes bore into yours, dark and clearly unnerved. “He is the Avatar. How much can you really help?”  
You gently pull away. “More than most people. Try to stay out of the way, head towards the back of the city. If you tell the palace guards that you’re engaged to me, they’ll let you in. Goodbye.”  
“Y/N–!” Valan exclaims, but you’re already out the door again, running in the direction of the palace where you are sure not only Aang and his friends are, but the place Yue will have gone to as well. 

Not long after, you literally run into Aang and Katara, smacking into Aang’s shoulder as both of you race up the stairs to the palace.

“Oof!” you nearly fall backwards, managing to quickly bend yourself a pole of ice to grab onto. Aang doesn’t do that, but Katara grabs him before he can topple down the stairs.

“Y/N!” Katara says, throwing her arms around you when Aang is stable. “I’m so glad you’re here.”  
“Sorry I missed your practice, I’ll explain later,” you say, a little out of breath as you fix the stairs you disfigured. “Let’s get inside. I’m sure Chief Arnook will have an announcement to make.”  
“It’s the Fire Nation,” Katara says as the three of you continue quickly up the stairs. “The same thing happened with the ashy snow when I was a kid.”  
“They must have come for me,” Aang cuts in quickly. The boy looks dejected. “I knew this would happen eventually.”  
You pat him on the shoulder as you all head inside the main hall. “It’s their fault for being crazy murdering warmongers, not yours, Aang.”

He just sighs as the three of you (and Momo, Aang’s pet lemur) sit down in the hall along with a decent number of other people. Across the room, you spot Hahn, Yue’s fiance, and cringe, thinking of how you ditched Valan.

Speaking of Yue, the Princess comes in shortly after, looking like she’s in a hurry. Sokka trails in a few moments later with a sad look, which you attribute to your best friend. 

The boy sits down next to you, pouting as he leans back against the pillar behind you.

“Yue reject you or something?” you whisper as the room begins to quiet down when the Chief comes out.  
Sokka sighs deeply. “Don’t remind me.”

The hall falls silent when Chief Arnook stands proudly before everyone, hands behind his back and expression solemn.

“The day we have feared for so long has arrived,” the Chief says. “The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe. But they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits!”

You look to the ceiling, wishing it was nighttime so that you could feel that slight course of energy that only rushes through your veins when the moon rises at night.

“Spirit of the Ocean, Spirit of the Moon: be with us!” the Chief exclaims, raising his arms. There is a pause before he lowers his arms and returns to that solemn gaze. “I’m going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission.”

Without missing a beat, Sokka stands from beside you. “Count me in.”  
“Sokka!” Katara says as other boys and men you recognize also stand.

“Be warned, many of you will not return. Come forward to receive my mark if you accept the task.”

Sokka leaves your group, heading towards the front of the room where the Chief is holding red war paint used to mark the foreheads of warriors.

“I don’t know whether he’s brave or stupid,” you comment as Sokka steps up to take the mark. You frown as he walks away and makes eye contact with Yue, who looks a little teary.  
“He’s both,” Katara sighs.

“Y/N,” Aang turns to you as the three of you stand. “What are you going to do? Do you have to defend the wall with the other waterbenders?”  
You shrug. “I’m not a warrior or guard. I figured I’d stick with you two in case you need me, unless Yue asks me to protect her.”

Aang smiles, although he looks a little tense. “I appreciate that. We can always use another great waterbender to help out.”  
You pat him on the head, trying to offer him a more reassuring look. “You got it, buddy.”

It doesn’t take long for the entire city to prepare for the imminent attack, citizens huddling towards the back of Agna Qel’a while you, your friends, and all of the warriors head towards the outer wall. 

As you stand atop it, you can’t help but wonder about your brothers and your parents. Your mom would have gone with the regular citizens, probably hoping that you would be there with Valan. You hope she isn’t scared, being there alone.  
Meanwhile, your father and brothers are probably not too far away. Hakki and Kuten were both working a shift outside the wall, so chances are they are either still out there, or have returned to the top of the wall. Your father is likely on the ground, ready to defend the wall from fire blasts damaging it. 

You stare out at the open ocean. You have never left the walls since that day when Yuna fell into the water. Looking at it now, the ocean seems like a friend, but you know how cruel it can be. You just hope that it’s cruel only to the attackers.

The waiting is the worst part. At least, that’s what Chief Arnook said. You realize then, as you wait for something to happen, that you have never seen firebending in your life. And most of the people around you have never seen it either, besides Katara, Sokka and Aang who inevitably saw it on their travels through the Earth Kingdom. 

You try not to be afraid.

You see something, then. 

Your brows furrow as you squint, trying to make out what that small yellow thing is. Only your eyes widen as they no longer need to squint when the yellow thing gets bigger and brighter and closer and–!

You scream as you are thrown off the top of the wall by the impact of that massive blast of fire that just hit it beneath you. You have the sense even in your shock to soften some of the ice that must have crumbled off the wall into snow before you hit the ground, landing in a deep mountain of it face first. 

You cough, desperately pushing at the snow as it falls over top of you.

“Katara!” you hear Sokka shout, and then in a moment of clarity, remember that you can simply bend the snow out of your way.

You thrust the snow away, climbing out of the hole you made and finding Katara doing the same thing a few feet away. You join Sokka and Katara as the two siblings look up at the wall, finding a couple of large holes in it already. You clap a hand over your mouth as ice continues to crumble off of the holes. The insignia of your tribe is falling apart.

“Y/N!”

Your head whips around at the sound of your father’s voice, seeing him run towards you until he’s close enough to embrace you tightly. 

“Dad, I’m fine,” you mumble into his coat so he’ll let go.  
Your dad pulls back, frowning. “I want you to head back to the palace. There’s no use in you risking your life this close to the wall, most of the barrage will hit here.” he turns to Katara and Sokka. “You two go too. Sokka, the warriors will be meeting on the second floor. Y/N, Katara, stay with the Princess.”

You nod. “Alright. Be careful, dad.”  
He smiles and ruffles her hair. “I will if you will, kid.”

It’s nearly dusk by the time that you and Katara have returned to the palace and found Princess Yue. The three of you are watching the city get bombed by what looks like at least fifty, if not a hundred Fire Nation ships.

“I can’t believe this,” Yue says, clearly holding back tears. “Our city… our people.”  
“We can defend the people,” you say, placing your hand on your friend’s shoulder in comfort. “And the city can always be rebuilt.”  
“Still,” Yue wipes at her eyes.

The bombs seem to slow down, eventually coming to a complete halt. Almost in tandem, Aang finally reappears on Appa after he seemed to go off on his own earlier when the wall was initially hit.

“Aang!” Katara exclaims when Appa lands on the low roof of the palace in front of you.

The three of you exchange looks and then race down the stairs to meet him, curious if he has any intel on what’s been happening on the other side of the city.

Aang slides down off of Appa’s head, rubbing his temples and looking extremely dejected as he mutters to himself, “I can’t do it, I can’t do it.”

“What happened?” Katara asks with a frown.

“I must have taken out a dozen Fire navy ships, but there’s just too many of them. I can’t fight them all.” Aang answers, groaning.  
“But... you have to,” Yue says with wide eyes, her hands clasped together nervously. “You’re the Avatar.”  
“I’m just one kid,” says Aang, putting his arms over his head as Katara kneels down by his side to comfort him.

You feel a pang of emotion in your chest. He had gone out there to fight alone? A dozen ships taken down by himself, and yet Aang still felt like he had not done enough. Knowing that he did not have the strength or endurance for more. 

“Aang,” you say, kneeling on his other side and placing your hand on his back. “Don’t lose hope. It’s nighttime now. They’ll hold off for a while because they know we’re stronger with the rise of the moon. We have time to regroup.”

“Huh?” Aang lifts his head, frowning. “What do you mean?”

You tilt yours. “What do you mean, what do I mean?”

“The part about the moon,” Aang says, rubbing his head. “Stronger with the moon?”

You and Yue exchange looks. They don’t know about that? At the very least, shouldn’t Master Pakku have mentioned it or something?

“Let’s get something to eat and talk about it later,” Yue brushes a stray hair behind her ear. “I’m sure you’re famished, Avatar Aang.”

Aang nods, standing. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

After a tense meal in the uppermost floor of the palace, the four of you head back out onto one of the balconies nearby Yue’s bedroom, watching the dark ocean and sky reflect each other, the bright full moon in the center of it all. 

“The legends say the moon was the first waterbender,” Yue explains calmly, the light of said moon shining in her eyes. “Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides, and learned how to do it themselves.”  
“I’ve always noticed my waterbending is stronger at night,” Katara hums thoughtfully.  
“That’s when my brothers and I always used to practice,” you say, tapping your fingers against the ice railing. “At night, around the full moon. To try and get the most out of my strength.”

“Our strength comes from the spirit of the moon, our life comes from the spirit of the ocean.” Yue continues, looking serious. “They work together to keep balance–”

“The spirits!” Aang exclaims, standing pin straight from where he’d been slumped over. “Maybe I can find them and get their help.”  
“How can you do that?” Yue asks, frowning.  
Katara smiles as she walks over to stand by Aang’s side. “The Avatar is the bridge between our world and the spirit world. Aang can talk to them!”  
“Hey, maybe their wisdom will help us win this battle,” you shrug, cracking a smile. “Good ol’ moon and ocean.”  
“Or maybe, they’ll release a crazy-amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!” Aang says brightly.

The three of you stare in silence.

Aang shrinks back down a little, looking sheepish. “Or wisdom. That’s good too.”

Katara breathes in, gesturing as she speaks. “The only problem is, last time you got to the spirit world by accident. How are you gonna get there this time?”

You and Yue look at each other, both faces pensive as you think about Yue’s past regarding the spirits.

Yue turns back to Aang and Katara. “I have an idea. Follow me.”

You and Yue lead the way down the steps of the palace as Aang and Katara follow, looking around somewhat nervously. You head to the small wooden door, a passage you’ve never actually been lucky enough to walk through. It leads to a place so secretive that most of the population of your city doesn’t even know it exists. Somewhere that treads the line between reality and another world.

Or, so you’ve heard.

“So is this the way to the spirit world?” Aang asks innocently after you and Yue step to the side to let him stand in front of the door.  
Yue chuckles. “No. You’ll have to get there on your own. But I can take you to the most spiritual place in the entire north pole.”

She reaches over and opens the door. Aang walks through first.

You take a deep breath as Katara heads in after him, and Yue after her, leaving you to check the surrounding area to make sure you’re not being followed, and then enter, swinging the door shut behind you. You squeeze your eyes shut for a moment, feeling anxious for some reason. The spirit oasis is just somewhere you never really thought you’d get to go to. It’s pretty exclusive.

“Y/N, come on!” Yue calls out to you, as you hear Aang laugh and woosh off with a sound of airbending.

You carefully open your eyes and turn, jaw dropping in shock immediately as you take in the place.

“What… is that?” you point to the greenery, but nobody is around to take your question, your friends already starting down one of the two looping paths to get to the island in the middle of this lake.

You start down after them, jogging to catch up, but you lose your breath much faster than you usually do. Probably because it feels like the summer, or even worse than the summer. It feels hot.  
Wow. That’s new.

“I never thought I’d miss grass this much!” Aang shouts with a laugh.

Right, grass. That’s what this stuff is called. You’ve never seen it before. 

“It’s so warm here! How is that possible?” Katara questions, pulling off her overcoat.  
“It’s the center of all spiritual energy in our land,” Yue explains, taking her own coat off too and folding it.

You do the same. “Seriously, I’m burning up here. This doesn’t bother you guys?”  
Katara laughs. “You should feel the Earth Kingdom. That place has some really hot days.”

You kneel down in the grass, feeling the little blades of plant material run through your fingers. It’s unique, but does sort of remind you of the sea-plants you use for nutrition. It’s very pretty at least, and what you’re assuming are trees and bushes across the little pond inside the island are beautiful too. A sharp contrast from the almost strictly blue and white landscape you grew up in. 

“You’re right, Yue,” Aang says after having got out his energy. “I can feel… something. It’s so… tranquil!” he sits down on the grass, pushing his hands together in a meditative state.

You, Katara, and Yue look at each other, and Katara points to a spot behind Aang.

“Let’s go over there. We can watch his back.”

You nod, and the three of you head around to his side of things. Yue and Katara stand still, while you pace quietly, touching the leaves of various plants. They smell good, too. Kind of like your Granny’s sea-plum perfume, but kind of better.

“Why’s he sitting like that?” Yue asks.  
“He’s meditating, trying to cross over into the spirit world. It takes all his concentration,” Katara says in response, her voice low.  
“Woah, check out this flower, Yue,” you whisper, pointing to an especially pink one. You love this color, it’s nothing like the dull lilacs that are common dyes in town. “It’s pretty, right?”  
“Totally,” Yue whispers back. “Don’t trim it, though.  
“Sure thing, Princess!”

Katara snickers.

“About the meditation, though,” Yue continues. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“How about some quiet?!” Aang exclaims suddenly, throwing his hands up. He whips around, shooting a fierce look at all three of you. “Come on, guys, I can hear every word you’re saying!”

“Sorry,” you whisper. 

Aang turns back to face the pond, and you stop pacing, standing still beside Katara. 

The three of you wait in silence for a few seconds. You fidget, feeling the urge to ask if anything is happening, but holding it in for Aang’s sake. Your mind starts to wander… is Dad okay? What about your brothers? You hope your mom got something to eat tonight. Hey, did Sokka really go on that little mission thing–

You gasp as Aang’s arrow suddenly starts glowing with a bright, white light.

“Is he okay?” asks Yue.  
“He’s crossing into the spirit world,” Katara explains. “He’ll be fine as long as we don’t move his body. That’s his way back to the physical world.”

“Maybe we should get some help?” Yue suggests, starting off to the side, but Katara cuts her off.  
“No. He’s my friend. I’m perfectly capable of protecting him.”

“Well, aren’t you a big girl now?”

Your head whips to the side, hearing an unfamiliar voice. It’s raspy and male, and yet speaks with a familiarity towards Katara.

“No!” Katara says, eyes wide. You follow her gaze to find what looks like a boy about your age, with skin paler than Aang and a weird haircut, and… a scar over his eye?

“Yes,” says the boy. “Hand him over and I won’t have to hurt you.”

“Pfft,” you smirk, turning your feet in this weird earth to get a good footing. The boy’s gaze snaps over to you, looking a little bit surprised, like he wasn’t expecting a response from anyone besides Katara. “Like there’s even a chance of that.”

He seems stunned for a moment, just blinking at you.

“Let me handle it,” Katara whispers. “He’s a firebender, you don’t know how to fight him. Protect Yue!”

You match eyes with her, and trusting her judgement, nod, grabbing Yue’s hand and running from the scene as you hear the boy let out a grunt, and then see from the corner of your eye a flash of fire.

You take Yue out to the middle of the lake on an icy path and unfreeze it after making the two of you somewhere to stand. You force a wall up around the backside of you in case there are more intruders, but leave an open space to keep an eye on Aang and Katara while she fights the firebender.

“Can she beat him?” Yue asks, sounding worried.  
You watch carefully, seeing Katara whip a blast of water at the boy that sends him to the ground. “Oh, she’s already doing it.”

Katara freezes him in a ball of ice, but he’s able to break out by what you guess is the sheer heat and force his firebending can create. Your hands clench into fists, feeling the urge to join in on the fight. If it gets down to the wire, you will. But you can’t deny that the way that boy tosses fire around kind of scares you. You’ve never seen it happen like this before– a battle between two elements, between two kinds of benders. Katara may not be as advanced as you, but she has far more battle experience, and more experience dealing with other benders. Far, far more. Since you have zilch.

“Come on, Katara!” you shout, hoping Aang won’t get disturbed by your loud voice if he’s already in the spirit world.

Maybe she’s emblazoned by your encouragement, because the girl appears to harness even more strength and push the boy up into a high wave of water, something you’ve seen her do before in practice. She freezes it all in one sudden motion, leaving him uncomfortably high in the air, and also probably uncomfortable cold.

“Good job!” you call, then turn to Yue. “Stay here for a minute.”

She nods, and you make yourself a slim path back to the island, leaving it frozen so Yue doesn’t get stuck alone, helpless, on a little patch of ice. 

“You nailed it, Katara!” you give her a high-five as she smiles at you. “Who is that guy, even?”  
“Thanks,” the girl says sheepishly. “He’s–”

You feel the heat before you see it, having had your back slightly turned to the boy in the ice. 

“Hnngh!” you whip up a wave of water to protect yourself and Katara from the blast of fire, but it still knocks you over, having been completely unexpected.

Katara lands against a tree, smacking it and falling to the ground. You scramble to your feet, feeling rays of the sun against your face. That’s how he–!

The boy has Aang in his grip when you turn. He gives you a humored look. “You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun.”

“I can’t let you take the Avatar!” you hiss, and quickly draw water from the lake around you, firing it at the boy.

He dodges, and without missing a beat, drops Aang momentarily to roundhouse kick fire at you. You block it with a wave, turning it around yourself and shooting ice projectiles at him, which he melts with a blast. You yelp as he shoots fireball after fireball at you, trying desperately to block yourself from getting burned. 

“Who _are_ you?!” you shout as you attempt to redirect a shield of ice at the boy.  
“Ask your friend when both of you wake up,” he tells you, and sends a final, intense blast of fire that feels more like what you guess an explosion is. You try to block it, protecting yourself from getting burned, but fly backwards into the line of trees, and then everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohoho.... who's this? ;)


End file.
